The history of vodka begins in Russia and Poland around the 14th century. The word vodka comes from the diminutive Slavic word for water, essentially translating as little water. At that time, vodka was a type of grain spirit, sometimes called “bread wine”, that had been distilled three or more times and diluted below 40% alcohol. However, as distilling technology improved, the purity of vodka increased to where it is today. While popular culture has sometimes linked vodka to potatoes, in reality, vodka can be made from any fermentable agricultural product and the most popular brands are made from wheat or corn. In the 1960’s, the popularity of vodka exploded and since 1976, vodka has maintained its position as the most popular spirit in the U.S.
Vodka can be made anywhere in the world from any fermentable agricultural product. Historically, vodka originated from Central and Eastern Europe though its popularity spread throughout the rest of Europe and North America.
The defining feature of vodka is how it is distilled, not what it is distilled from. Before any spirit can be called vodka, it must be distilled at or above 95% ABV in the U.S. or to 96% ABV in the UK, EU and Russia. Because of this, vodka can really only be made on column stills or on hybrid stills that have enough rectifying plates that will allow the alcohol to reach the required purity.
Vodka sold in the U.S. can have less than 2 grams per liter of sugar added and less than 1 gram per liter of citric acid without any additional labeling. Whereas, vodka sold in the EU may have less than 8 grams per liter of sugar without labeling.
After distillation, vodka can be filtered through charcoal to remove some of the remaining compounds that can make a vodka taste harsh. Some brands claim that specific sources of carbon add a different character to the spirit or filtering through exotic materials such as diamond make their spirit superior, but specific evidence for this is limited.
In the U.S., all vodka is considered to be gluten free no matter what it is made from even if it has not been certified by an outside agency. The labeling authorities acknowledge that the physics of the distillation process makes it impossible for any significant amounts of gluten to remain in the spirit post-distillation.
U.S. labeling authorities have established that “distillation means a single run through a pot still or a single run through a column of a column still.” Therefore, any spirit that claims it was distilled 10 times or 100 times etc. must be based on the definition above.