Poland is a country with a lot to offer the world, from delicious pierogi and ridiculously thick hot chocolate to Chopin and some of the most beautiful cities in Europe. It is a proud country with a lot to be proud of and one expression of this is its vodka, regarded by many as the best in the world.
The origin of vodka is a surprisingly contentious subject but it is commonly believed to have originated from Poland in the 15th century, when it was used for its medicinal properties. The first vodka distillery was in Lviv, which is in modern day Ukraine but was in Poland at the time.
Vodka tasting in Warsaw
It was traditionally made using grains, namely rye, wheat, barley oats and triticale, but through trade with the New World, potatoes later started to be used to make vodka. In Poland, where Polish vodka has a protected designation of origin, vodka needs to be exclusively produced in Poland using the aforementioned ingredients.
Popular grain vodka brands include rye vodka Wyborowa (meaning excellent), the luxury rye vodka brand Belvedere (named after the presidential palace), and Chopin, which can be made using rye or wheat, or even potato. Popular potato vodka brands include Luksusowa (meaning luxurious, one of the oldest brands in Poland) and Chopin.
There are also many varieties of flavoured vodka in Poland, which have been made for centuries. Particularly famous is Żubrówka, which is flavoured with bison grass from near the border with Belarus and has been since the 17th century. This has a distinctive, clean taste that is often mixed with apple juice in Poland as a rare example of where vodka is mixed. Debowa is another similar vodka, which includes a strip of oak in the spirit to impart a flavour, with some being aged in oak barrels too.
Pierogi with a vodka pairing
There are herbal vodkas too, which are often used as digestifs, while there are distillers experimenting with new and unusual flavours; we’ve tried a surprisingly nice horseradish vodka before. Brands like Saska and Soplica also have vodkas in flavours like coffee, plum or hazelnut, but due to their lower alcohol percentage they aren’t strictly vodka.
Vodka is traditionally served neat and unchilled in Poland, with no ice, similar to how Scotch would be served. This is so you can detect the notes of the vodka, with there being enormous variety in them. Apart from the aforementioned Żubrówka and apple juice cocktail, it’s not traditionally mixed, but as in all things, it is a matter of personal taste and enjoyment.
Polish wine and vodka
Na zdrowie!