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| Vodka Main Menu |
| Misc Searches | | Vodka | |
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| | | Vodka is a typically colorless liquor, always distilled from fermented grain or potatoes. It is thought that the term is diminutive of the Slavic word "voda" (woda, ....) for "water."
Except for insignificant amounts of flavorings, vodka consists of water and alcohol (ethanol). Vodka usually has an alcohol content ranging from 35% to 70% by volume ("Vodka Rassputin"). The classic Russian vodka is 40% (80 degrees proof), the number being attributed to the famous Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev. According to the Vodka Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, Mendeleev thought the perfect percentage to be 38, but since spirits in his time were taxed on their strength the percentage was rounded up to 40 to simplify the tax computation.
Although vodka is generally drunk neat in its Central European and Scandinavian homeland, its growth in popularity elsewhere owes much to its usefulness in cocktails and other mixed drinks, such as the Bloody Mary, the Screwdriver, the White Russian, Geezer Sauce, the Gimlet, and the Vodka Martini (also known as a Vodkatini), a dry martini made with vodka instead of gin. |
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