Russian vodka is presented today in any more or less decent store anywhere in Russia with at least 20-30 types. The drink is a mixture of alcohol obtained on a distillation column and purified prepared water. But the drink called "vodka" has been known since 1386 (six years after the memorable Battle of Kulikovo), and the distillation column was invented by the French as early as the 19th century.
So when did vodka appear in Russia, what did it look like and what do we buy in the store now?
What our ancestors drank from ancient times
The process of sublimation was not always. But strong drinks have been known since the dawn of writing. The tribes living in the expanses of South America and Africa, in order to cheer themselves up, ate the sweet fruits of some fruits that had begun to ferment.plants.
It's all about microscopic fungi - yeast. To put it simply, these microorganisms feed on sugar and produce ethyl alcohol C2H5(OH). Wild yeast lives on the skins of many types of berries and fruits. And when vodka appeared in Russia, the fermentation process was well known.
The Slavs used fermentation products without sublimation, in their pure form. There was also no sugar in those days, so honey or sweet fruits were food for yeast. Today, however, not everyone knows the recipe for how to cook real drinking honey, how to ferment kvass.
Also in Russia, mainly in agricultural areas, many drinks were made on the basis of grain m alts - barley, rye. These are the same kvass. In addition, beer was brewed from germinated grain. Millet m alt was also used, on its basis they prepared a drink adopted from the Tatars - buzu.
Who invented distillation
The one who invented vodka in Russia did not revolutionize the history of alcoholic beverages. The earliest references to the distillation process found by historians date back to the first century AD. e. It was used, according to the hieroglyphs, not for drinking. Ancient Greek alchemists tried to boil gold with it, to create philosopher's stones.
Distillation developed in the Ancient East in the XI-XII centuries. The East was famous for its achievements in medicine, the distillation product was used by the Aesculapius to prepare potions and medicines (alcohol dissolves various active substances in itself much more efficiently than water, it can be used to prepare much more effective extracts fromplants). That is, alcohol has already begun to be consumed, however, so far only for medicinal purposes.
Europe, cognac and perfumery
About the middle of the XII century, distillation became widespread in Europe. At first, distillation was used, like the Arabs, for the preparation of medicines and in chemical experiments. But the French would not be themselves if they did not give the distillate another use - the production of cosmetics. When vodka appeared in Russia, in Europe they already used alcohol with might and main, including for ingestion.
An interesting story of the emergence of cognac - one of the most elite drinks of our time. Historians say that the crisis, oddly enough, was to blame.
Overproduction of wine in one of the French cities has led to the fact that huge stocks of this drink have accumulated in warehouses. The wine was sour, spoiled and promised the owner big losses. And then it was decided to distill it all into grape alcohol.
Then another crisis, due to which grape spirit, which had not been in demand for a long time, lay forgotten in oak barrels for several years.
The liquid subsequently extracted from the barrels was striking in its properties. In addition to the unusual taste and aroma, unlike wine, it could be stored for an arbitrarily long time and transported over any distance.
Who taught the Russians to “drive”
It is not known exactly in what year vodka appeared in Russia, but chronicle data have been preserved that for the first time a distillation product, namely grape alcohol, was brought to DmitryDonskoy as a gift from Genoese merchants. The further fate of the gift is unknown, in any case, the drink did not receive distribution this time.
Repeatedly the merchants brought to Russia already a large batch of alcohol, this was during the reign of Vasily II the Dark in 1429. It is curious that the second time when vodka appeared in Russia, it did not arouse the enthusiasm of the ruling class. Moreover, the drink was recognized as harmful and banned from being imported into the Moscow Principality.
When did vodka become a Russian drink
The development of the production and consumption of vodka in the Moscow lands is usually associated with the name of Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible. In what century did vodka of its own production appear in Russia? The most probable period is the end of the 15th - the beginning of the 16th centuries. Despite the ban, she was slowly persecuted on the estates by noble nobles, as well as monks in monasteries.
It is known for certain that John IV ordered the establishment of sovereign distilleries, where vodka was produced and sold. Initially, establishments made a drink exclusively for the royal oprichnina and archers. However, soon, realizing the benefits of selling alcohol, Grozny ordered the establishment of taverns for every class.
Home production of alcoholic beverages, including low-alcohol products of fermentation, was under a strict ban. And there were not many daredevils to disobey Ivan the Terrible.
What was the real "Russian vodka"
As is clear from the narrative, the storythe emergence of vodka in Russia, real vodka - this is the story of the emergence of refined grain moonshine, the very one that is still being driven here and there in the villages. It was this drink that was the original Russian vodka.
it was ok.
The grain was scattered evenly and covered with a damp cloth. After a while, sprouts appeared, the grain acquired a sweet taste. After that, the material was dried in an oven, rubbed by hand and sieved. Thus, the grains were cleared of sprouts and roots. This was followed by grinding in a mill.
Instead of bread yeast fermented berries were used. In general, in large productions, a part of the already working mash was simply taken and added to the fresh one.
They drove vodka, or "bread wine", in the dark. This method of production can still be found. This is what they do when there is no moonshine still, but you really want to drink.
Russian vodka on estates
Some Russian vodka is undeservedly considered a primitive, coarse drink with low taste properties. But the history of the appearance of vodka in Russia is akin to the history of cognac. At first, when the distillation of grape raw materials was done in one run, the entire product was used for drinking without temperature control. The quality of the drink was hardly better than the nastiest moonshine.
In the 18th-19th centuries, Russian landowners were already doinga different drink than the one that was produced by the distilleries of the formidable king. We are celebrating the appearance of vodka in Russia purified on charcoal, obtained on an apparatus with a coil.
The distillation began to be done twice, and in the process itself only the middle was selected for consumption, clean from both methyl impurities (“heads”) and heavy fusel oils (“tails”).
From generation to generation, recipes for tinctures on various herbs were passed down. And if we take into account the fact that in those days the properties of plants were known much better than now (people knew when to collect herbs, how to store), then we can assume that the result was appropriate.
Ladies were prepared a special "women's" vodka. This drink has many names: spotykach, liqueur, ratafia. They made ratafia from all kinds of fruits and berries. The highest chic was to have liqueurs in the house:
- apricot;
- lingonberry,
- cherry;
- blueberry.
And so on through the alphabet until the letter "I". Here is such a drink, our vodka.
Russian vodka is one of the victims of the First World War
Production of vodka from grain is not cheap. At the beginning of the 19th century, the distillation column was invented in France. From any fermented raw material (sugar beet, frozen potatoes) it was possible to obtain ethyl alcohol of the highest purity. No one was going to use this alcohol for ingestion, they used it as a technical one.
In Russia it isequipment began to appear in the 1860s. And almost immediately alcohol began to be used for the preparation of strong alcoholic beverages, so far in small batches and as an experiment.
Then came the First World War. Russia sent an army of many thousands to the battlefields. It was too wasteful to produce vodka for the front lines from bread that was then in short supply, and here the distillation column served as a real salvation for the tsarist budget. The Bolsheviks, having taken power, did not change anything. And why, such help to the budget!
Vodka and Mendeleev
One often hears a lot of fables about where vodka came from in Russia. Many of these ridiculous stories are associated with the name of the great Russian scientist Dmitri Mendeleev. For example, on many resources you can find "historical" data that Mendeleev:
- was a drunkard;
- determined by order of the government that vodka should have a strength of 40%;
- once got drunk to such an extent that his famous periodic table of elements appeared to him in a dream.
Dmitry Ivanovich really has something to do with 40%, but this figure has nothing to do with an alcoholic drink. At this concentration of a solution of alcohol and water, the maximum mutual penetration of molecules is achieved.
Regarding everything else - nothing more than fairy tales, often invented outside the territory of Russia, like "Potemkin villages" or dances of drunk Russians to the harmonica with wild bears.
