The first records of distilled grains spirits appeared in Ireland and Scotland in the 1400’s. Over time, these spirits became known as whiskey, which is the anglicized version of the Gaelic word uisce beatha (Ish-ca Baa-ha) which means water of life. English colonization spread whiskey making it to both Canada and the United States and the types of whiskey they made evolved based on the grains that grew well in those climates and soils. Before the 1800’s, whiskey was largely stored in barrels simply for transportation. But, around the turn of the 19th century, people noticed that whiskey stored in barrels had a better flavor and aroma and so began purposefully aging whiskey before selling it. As distilling technology improved, it expanded the variety of whiskey styles that could be made to match the preferences of the drinking public.
While polugar is traditionally Russian, Rodionov & Sons built their distillery in Poland so they could recreate polugar using small pot stills and traditional recipes. Polugar does not have an official legal definition, so it can technically be made anywhere.
Polugar stands out as a unique style of pot distilled unaged grain spirit. The grain is fermented and then distilled two or three times. After distillation the spirit is filtered and lowered in strength with the addition of water to 38.5% ABV. Because of these production practices, polugar has a nice grain flavor that is softer on the palate than other unaged grain spirits.
A pot still consists of three primary parts: the pot, where a fermented liquid is placed, a head, which sits on top of the pot directing the vapors created during distillation into the condenser, and the condenser, where the vapors recondense into liquid due to reduction in temperature. The basic design of the alembic pot still has been largely unchanged since the it was invented in the 1300s.
The column still was invented in the 1800s and perfected by Aeneas Coffey who was a distillery excise tax collector. Coffey’s design uses gravity to pull a fermented mash or wash at the top column down to the bottom while rising steam strips the alcohol and travels through a series of plates until it reaches the condenser. This design is more efficient and allows for the creation of neutral alcohols such as vodka.
A generic name for any spirit distilled from grain. In the US, grain spirits are defined as a neutral spirit (vodka) that has been aged in oak barrels. Because of this, polugar must be classified as a specialty spirit since it does not meet the US legal definitions for vodka or grain spirits.