Vodka has humility. By law, vodkas produced in the United States
must be colorless, tasteless, and odorless. Because of its purity,
vodka will graciously assume the characteristics of whatever it
is mixed with. It is this mixability that has made vodka the most
popular distilled spirit of all. The Bloody Mary and Screwdriver
have been perennial favorites, and vodka based specialty drinks,
such as the White and Black Russian, Cape Codder, and Seabreeze
repeatedly make the top ten list. Vodka has even established itself
in a number of traditional gin drinks: Vodka and Tonic, Vodka
Martini, and the Vodka Collins.
Vodka means "little water", a diminutive of the Russian
word for water, vodka. It is commonly believed that the spirit
originated in Russia sometime in the 14th century. In the days
of the czars, Russian vodka was made from potatoes and grains
such as corn, rye or wheat. Today vodka is made from grain to
produce as clear and tasteless a spirit as possible. Vodka was
introduced in the United States during the 1930s and, in this
country, is made from pure grain neutral spirits distilled from
fermented corn, rye, or wheat. The higher the proof, the less
the flavor. Vodka is also filtered through charcoal to remove
any remaining hint of flavor.
