29.10.2010 - Vinexpo news selection
While the Scots and the Irish argue about who invented whisky first, and the Chileans and the Peruvians disagree over pisco, the Russians get annoyed with the Poles about vodka.
Etymologically the word is very similar in both countries, originating from “voda” in Russia and “woda” in Poland; both words mean “water” in the respective languages. It is said that vodka was first made in Poland around 1550, but at the same time, Tsar Ivan IV – Ivan the Terrible –had the first official production premises built in Moscow. At the end of the 19th century, the Russians regulated the product and popularised it on the initiative of Alexander III. (Rayon Boissons / October 2010