The first person to feel the bite of alcohol on their tongue was probably an Arab alchemist of the eighth century. It is known that alcohol was made from wine in Italy in the eleventh century. It was called spiritus vini or “spirit of wine;” it was also known as aqua vitae or “water of life.” Spirits reached Poland from Italy or Germany in the 1620’s. Production developed at the end of that century and grew relatively slowly up to the early 1800’s. 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.
During the half-century of communist rule of Poland the spirits monopoly was known as Polmos and had many products and distilleries. After its fall the Polish distilling industry began to be privatized. But who has the rights to export the old Polmos brands including Wyborowa and Zubrowka? In the early nineties the Polmos enterprise became 25 autonomous firms that considered themselves co-owners of the almost 200 brands Polmos was producing before the breakup. They retained the right to keep making the old brands, and at the same time they began producing new ones. For More Information- www.polishvodka.com/pl; www.ivodka.com.
Belvedere Vodka created the luxury vodka segment in 1996 when the brand was launched in the United States by Millennium Imports- www.millenniumimport.com (now partially owned by Moet Hennessy USA). It is made using 100% Dankowskie Gold Rye as the single-grain ingredient and distilled four times. Polmos Zyrardow (Millennium owns the distillery) is located in the Mazovian plains 1½ hours west of Warsaw. Its packaging innovations include the satiny finish to the bottle and a window on the front through which the illustration on the back of the bottle can be seen magnified by the vodka. The illustration depicts the Belvedere, the former Warsaw residence of the President of Poland that is now a museum and serves as guest quarters for visiting dignitaries they have recently released two new macerated vodkas, Cytrus and Pomarancza (Orange). www.belvederevodka.com – About $33 retail.
Chopin Vodka is the world’s only luxury potato vodka (40 potatoes used in each bottle), named for Polish composer Frederic Chopin. Chopin is distilled in small batches at Polmos Siedice (established in 1896) near the Belarus border. First imported to the United States by Millennium Imports in 1997, the distillery was privatized and purchased in 2003 by the Dorda family whose president is Tad Dorda. It is single ingredient vodka made from 100% naturally grown potatoes in the Podlasie region. They control the process from buying raw materials, distilling them four times, blending and bottling the product. Polmos Siedice purchases their potatoes from local farmers that contain 17% plus starch (most potatoes contain 12% starch) which is perfect for creating vodka, but is too high in starch for cooking. www.chopinvodka.com – About $33 retail.
