The vodka wars.

Will Poland ever be

credited for inventing vodka?

Vodka is nowadays a popular alcoholic drink around the world. Although the origins
of the beverage are undoubtedly Slavic, there is still some debate within the academic circles
about the first country that ever produced this drink.
The exact origins of vodka cannot be accurately determined, but it is believed to
originate from the cereal regions of Poland, Belarus, Lithuania, Ukraine and Russia. It also
has old roots in Scandinavia. For many centuries, the drink had less alcohol than today. It was
estimated that 14% was the maximum amount, because only that could be achieved by natural
fermentation.
To put some light into the discussion of who invented vodka, we have to look at the
etymology of the word. The word “vodka” seems to be a diminutive of the Slavic “voda”,
meaning “little water”. In the Middle Age, the spirit was significantly different from what we
know today as vodka and it was used mostly for medical purposes. Russia claims that the
word first appeared in one of its historical written sources in 1440 and, as a result, they were
the first ones to produce it. However, it seems that Poland has been the first to distil vodka.
Apparently, the first written mention of “vodka” in Poland dates back to 1405 (gorzałka),
referring to medicine or cosmetic products that burn.
As a result, these two nations have been long fighting over who invented vodka
because for them, it’s a matter of national honour and gratification. This was the source of the
first vodka war.
In the autumn of 1977, a trade war took place between the USSR and Poland. Known
as the vodka war, it started when Poland claimed to the International Trade Court that vodka
first came from Poland, and as such, only they had the right to call their product vodka, and
all the other, including the USSR, had to be branded “bread wine”. At first, the Soviets
dismissed Poland’s claim as a joke, but when they realized their neighbour was serious, they
asked as well-known historian, William Pokhlebkin, to investigate. Pokhlebkin claimed that
vodka was first distilled in Moscow in 1440 and that it appeared in Poland decades after that.
Based on his research, the court has ruled in USSR’s favour, and Poland lost the first vodka
war. However, recent scholars have disputed Pokhlebkin’s work and his knowledge about
chemistry, biology or medicine.
 The question remains, if Pokhlebkin’s work is not to be trusted, why didn’t the Poles
come with some evidence of their own? To answer that question, we can just look at the
geopolitics of the second half of the 20th century. Poland was under soviet influence during
the Cold War, so their ability to act on the matter was limited.
Nevertheless, recent years have brought more discussion on the subject and a new
vodka war, which helped to settle the extent to which an alcoholic drink can be called vodka.
The new vodka war began more recently, in 2007, when the countries of the ”vodka belt”
(Poland, Ukraine, Belarus and Russia) asked the international entity to regulate the
acceptation of the word “vodka” when referring to an alcoholic drink. The need for a clear
definition of the word appeared when some beverage distilled from grapes was branded as
vodka. At the time, one of Poland’s representatives in the European Parliament asked the
international forum if the French would accept their Champagne to be distilled from plumb or
if the British would accept their whisky to be distilled from apricots.
This second vodka war was held between the traditional vodka producing countries
and the rest of the world. The demand was to classify as vodka only the alcoholic beverages
from grains and potatoes and not those produced from any ethyl alcohol (for example, apples
or grapes). This proposal provoked criticism from the Southern European countries and a long
debate. The result was a compromise – the vodkas produced from other materials than the
traditional ones, now have to be labelled with the statement that they’re produced from, for
example, grapes. Poland, nonetheless, didn’t agree with the new regulation of the EU
Parliament and, as an effect, created the Polish Vodka Association with the aim to protect the
legacy of their national drink.
As already stated, most of the recent works in the field of alcohol and vodka in
particular show that Poland can and has to be credited for inventing vodka. If anyone were to
search online for the origins of this spirit, he or she would find a decent amount of
information on the matter. Nevertheless, most people don’t look for this kind of information,
unless it appeals to them for certain reasons. If you ask random people on the street about the
origins of vodka, most of them will tell you it origins from Russia. So what can Poland do in
this context? Is there any way to make Poland be worldwide known for inventing vodka? My
opinion is biased.
To begin with, I believe that Poland should begin a strategic international campaign
with the bare goal of letting the world know that the Polish vodka is the genuine vodka. Of
course, that will imply a lot of money spent on both the strategy and the implementation of
the campaign. In addition to this, if this is will be Poland’s first step in the new vodka war, it
will probably end in another loss. Why? We should keep in mind that, from the moment
Poland will make a move in trying to settle vodka as their drink, there will come a strong
reply from Russia. Russians have strong feelings for vodka, their national drink, and most
probably they won’t stand and watch how another country is trying to take credit for it.
You can see Russians love for vodka only by looking at their unique vodka museum or
Pokhlebkin’s book about the Russian origins of vodka. In Russia, vodka is linked to the most
important moments in the nation’s history – the building of the socialism, the wars, flying to
space. But it doesn’t stop there. Vodka is seen as omnipresent in the lives of the typical
Russians – the spirit you drink at every gathering, the one without which is hard to even
imagine Russia. According to them, there is only one type of vodka in the world – the Russian
one. The other countries are only producing “pseudo-vodka”.
Given the facts, I believe that the only chance the Poles have to finally win the vodka
war is to firstly conduct a large research in order to give strong arguments why vodka
originates from Poland. Second, they should present their data to the international forums, in
order to gain international official recognition. Finally, they can start an international
campaign to let the world know that they are the ones who invented the so-popular drink.