Oct. 17, 2012 - Issue #887: Dedfest
Provenance
Six things about vodka
Destinations for enthusiasts.There's a Bible Belt in the United States, but Europe can claim a Vodka Belt, which spans across countries such as Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Finland, Norway, Iceland Sweden, Greenland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Russian areas of Slovakia and Hungary that border Poland and Ukraine.
Alcohol content
Traditionally prepared vodkas have an alcoholic content of 40 percent by volume, and are composed primarily of water and ethanol with fermented substances such as grains, potatoes or even fruits and sugar.
Not a chance
Due to high alcohol content, vodka does not freeze. This is believed to be one of the main reasons for its popularity in Russia, since the spirit was able to survive the country's harsh winters without freezing.
Fire away
Some historic records claim vodka was used to make gunpowder in Sweden in the 15th century.
You've got a year
As opposed to popular belief, vodka can spoil. Use it within 12 months of the manufacturing date.
Can you say hangover?
Until 1885, vodka was sold in 12.3 litre buckets and often used for purposes other than drinking, as it still can be today. For example, soaking a razor blade in vodka after shaving disinfects and is said to prevent rusting. V vueweekly.com comments: powered by Disqus
Privacy Policy:
Vue respects your privacy. We will not forward your personal information to any other organization except as required by law, and will use your e-mail address only to respond to your comments. We reserve the right to edit and remove comments for length, clarity and/or if they are illegal or inappropriate. Your email address is never shown to visitors to vueweekly.com. Read the whole policy at: http://vueweekly.com/privacy
Comments policy
Comments go online directly without first being seen or reviewed by editors at Vue. Don't personally attack people, don't be defamatory, don't be spam-atory, don't hawk your band, don't pretend to be someone else, be clear, be on topic, be nice. Read our extended comments policy here. »
We use Disqus for our comments system. What's that all about?
We found that managing the comment community at Vue was easier to do with a system like Disqus. If this isn't straightforward to you, get help here.