The highest world’s qualtly top Polish brands are Belweder, Chopin, Wyborowa and Luksusowa.
Posted on 04/18/2006 10:44:07 AM PDT by Lukasz
The first one to feel the bite of pure alcohol on his tongue was probably an Arab alchemist of the eighth century, living in the area of present-day Morocco. Vodka, which in some of its forms comes very close to being an almost purely alcoholic brew, appeared in Europe later – we know that alcohol was being distilled from wine in Italy by the 11th century.
It was called spiritus vini or "spirit of wine." The 13th-century alchemist Arnaud de Villeneuve of Montpelier wrote that it "strengthens the body and lengthens life." Because of this belief in the blessings of alcohol, it was also known as aqua vitae or "water of life."
Deep secrecy surrounded the process of distillation, which required special equipment. The secret was known only to masters of alchemy, who bequeathed their knowledge to their successors, the pharmacists. The famous school of medicine in Salerno used large amounts of this miraculous medication for all kinds of ailments in the 12th century. The Franciscan philosopher and theologian Raimundus Lullus called it ultima consolatio corporus humani (the greatest comfort for the human body).
Spirits reached Poland from Italy or Germany in the 1620s. From there the route led on to Ruthenia and Bohemia. In Poland, production developed at the end of that century and grew relatively slowly up to the early 1800s, due to the primitive state of the technology and to the specific circumstances of the market for its base ingredients. Increasing consumption of vodka was boosted by the invention of ever-better tasting compositions and more varieties of the liquor. Different customs associated with drinking took root.
In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the distilling industry appeared alongside home stills and small-scale enterprises. The large distilleries specialized in purifying spirits and producing drinks made according to their own recipes. Some of the distilleries operating in Poland today are the direct heirs to these traditions.
How Polish production developed
Large-scale vodka production began in Poland at the end of the 16th century. Distilling developed first in Krakow, from where spirits were exported to Silesia before 1550. Silesian cities also bought vodka from Poznan, a town which in 1580 had 498 working "spirits boilers." Soon both these places were outpaced by Gdansk, Poland's largest producer of vodka before the country was partitioned in 1772.
The first distillery in Gdansk was opened by men from the Netherlands. One of them, Ambrosius Vermoellen of Lier, manufactured the known and valued liqueur named Der Lachs (“Salmon”); his sons Arendt and Peter continued that tradition. In the early 17th century, distilling grew to such an extent in Gdansk that there was a local shortage of firewood and the price of the fuel jumped. In 1620 the city authorities began to grant concessions for vodka distillation; 68 producers received and paid for the privilege, and many others functioned illegally.
"Spirits boilers" also appeared more and more often in villages and on the agricultural estates of noblemen. In the county of Leczyca, for example, there were 151 of them in 1578. It is difficult to estimate the scale of production at the end of the 16th century but it must have been quite a prospering industry, since proclamations from 1564, 1565 and 1577 imposed fees "for cooking spirits in the villages" and "for running an inn with spirits." It was the first form of excise on Polish soil.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, Polish vodka reached the Netherlands, Denmark, England, Russia, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Moldavia, Ukraine and the Black Sea shore. This export trade was very important economically, as can be seen in the Polish reaction when the prince of Moldavia banned the import of Polish vodka in 1779: the rulers of Poland sought and obtained diplomatic intervention from Turkey, France and Russia.
The early 19th century was a turning point in alcohol production in Poland. Crucial to this were progress in the technology and changes in the base ingredients. Potatoes replaced grain, and profitability leaped: a gallon of vodka cost the equivalent of more than two bushels of rye in 1704, but by 1844 a bushel of rye could buy 2.5 gallons of it. Poland was swept by "distilling fever."
According to official figures, no doubt underestimated, in 1836 there were 4,981 distilleries operating in Galicia, the Austrian sector of partitioned Poland, producing the equivalent of 600,000 hectoliters (almost 16,000 U.S. gallons) of pure spirits. In 1844, the Russian sector, known as the Kingdom of Poland, had 2,094 distilleries producing 460,000 hectoliters of spirits. Inn concessions made distilling the economic foundation for many estates.
The great increase in consumption of vodka and the ensuing effects on social behavior and customs brought a determined response from the partitioning powers in the form of excise taxes. In the course of 30 years the number of distilleries in Great Poland, in the Prussian sector of Poland, fell from 1,173 to 285. By 1884 there were only 516 in Galicia.
The Russian czar, disturbed by the ill health of army recruits, introduced restrictions in the Kingdom of Poland: In addition to a high excise, alcohol sales concessions were established, drinks stronger than 46% alcohol were outlawed, inn opening hours were limited, and serving alcohol to inebriated persons was prohibited. These actions led to a reduction in the number of distilleries in the Kingdom of Poland to 569 in 1875. The potato blight which afflicted Europe in 1843-1851 also contributed to the fall in production.
One effect of administratively imposed obstacles and heavy taxation was . . . the birth of the Polish distilling industry! The hard economic facts of life meant that the small, technologically backward distilleries on the farm estates had to close down. The only survivors were the large modern concerns established exclusively to produce spirits.
In 1918-1938 there was a further decline in Polish distilling. In 1910, about 2,500 distilleries operated in the area which Poland was to occupy after World War I. Together they produced about 2.6 million hectoliters of spirits annually. In the best years between the wars, the number of distilleries did not exceed 1,486, with annual production of 860,000 hectoliters. Those are the offici
The highest world’s qualtly top Polish brands are Belweder, Chopin, Wyborowa and Luksusowa.
Na Zdrowie!
Big Belvedere fan. Makes a great martini. I have to say however, that Grey Goose is awesome.
The french also have a Citidel Gin. Very tastey.
Thanks, na zdrowie to you too! :)
To the misc ping list :)
Grey Goose, a French Vodka, is hard to beat.
I actually have a bottle of Belvedere in my room that I bought in Jordan a couple of months ago.
I guess I'm saving it for a special occasion or a really stressful time. I can't buy it here.
I can get Absolut here, though. But Belvedere kicks its butt.
This French vodka is practically non-existent on the Polish market, has no tradition at all because it was invented in 1997.
My still was "invented" about a year ago but my "recipe" is something to behold!
If you will see an Arab drinking Polish vodka, take a picture of him and send it to me. It would be the best recommendation. :)
I can see that any night I walk into the bar we have here. LOL
You'd be surprised at how many "non-practicing Muslims" there are here. They drink, they eat pork, they make off-color jokes about Islam...
Iraq is so much more laid back on that stuff than places like Saudi Arabia and Iran.
And booze is legal here.
I've never tried Belvedere or Chopin because they are so expensive here. A good potato vodka for a low price is Monopolowa from Austria, but granted that would be a sin ;)
One winter evening in 1982, in Naples, Italy, I was drinking in a bar, drinking screwdrivers made with vodka that said "Product of U.S.S.R." on the label. I stepped out of the bar and started toward the harbor where I could get on a boat back to my ship, the Nimitz. That's all I remember. Lucky for me, I woke up in my bunk on the ship, but I don't remember how I got there.
And that's the last time I drank vodka.
I can't wait to see x5452 joining this thread to say, that there is nothing better under the sun, than Russian vodka. :-)))
"Monopolowa" name doesn't sound like being from Austria.
Sounds very Polish.
As you see even German speaking Austrians call their vodkas to at least sounds Polish. What else I can say? :)
That is why we in Poland do not drink Russian vodkas, you never know what is inside!
Yes I thought it was Polish when I first tried it but then read the label...Austria. The maker is J.A. Baczewski...also not a typical Austrian name.
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