After all who invented vodka? Poland or Russia? The answer to this question as mythical as that of chicken and eggs seems to be, according to experts, Poland.

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The word vodka was first registered in 1405 in Poland. At the time the word vodka (wódka) referred to medicinal and cosmetic products while the word gorzalka (in Polish burn ) was attributed to the drink.

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Vodka written in Cyrillic (Russian alphabet) first appeared in 1533, referring to a medicinal drink brought from Poland to Russia by merchants. In the early 18th century, the term vodka prevails and dominates to this day.

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Interestingly, the first to develop this method of distillation were the monks and, thanks to them, farmers began to consume and produce vodka.

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In 1917 this drink started to be known in other European countries, due to the Russian Revolution that took many inhabitants to flee, taking vodka with them.

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During the 2nd world war, in Russia, there was a daily ration of 100ml of vodka and, some Russians insist that this ration - and not the rocket launcher Katyusha - was what helped to make a difference against the Nazis.

 

In Poland also during World War II, most distilleries were confiscated and vodka was produced on the black market and used as a bargaining chip or bribe. With the end of the war, the distilleries were nationalized in what would later be called Polish Spirits Monopoly company “Polmos”. This entity ended and the privatization of the distilleries began with the beginning of the period of political transformation in 1989.

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Nowadays vodka is the second most consumed spirit drink in the world (behind whiskey).