Vodka is one of the world's most consumed distilled beverages. It is typically a colorless liquid containing ethanol purified by distillation from a fermented substance such as grain. The word is the diminutive of "water" in various Slavic languages (voda, woda, вода).

Except for various types of flavorings, vodka consists of water and alcohol (ethanol). It usually has an alcohol content ranging from 35% to 50% by volume. The classic Russian and Polish vodka is 40% (80 proof). This can be attributed to the Russian standards for vodka production introduced in 1894 by Alexander III from research undertaken by the Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev. According to the Vodka Museum in Moscow, Mendeleev found the perfect percentage to be 38, but since spirits in his time were taxed on their strength, the percentage was rounded up to 40 to simplify the tax computation. At strengths less than this, vodka drunk neat (not mixed with other liquids) can taste 'watery' and above this strength the taste of vodka can have more 'burn'. Some governments set a minimum alcohol content for a spirit to be called "vodka"; for example, the European Union sets a minimum of 37.5% alcohol by volume. Although vodka is generally drunk neat in its Eastern European and Scandinavian homeland, its growth in popularity elsewhere owes much to its usefulness in cocktails and other mixed drinks, such as the Bloody Mary, the Screwdriver, the Vodka Tonic, and the Vodka Martini.

Production

Vodka may be distilled from any starch/sugar-rich plant matter; most vodka today is produced from grains such as sorghum, corn, rye or wheat. Among grain vodkas, rye and wheat vodkas are generally considered superior. Some vodka is made from potatoes, molasses, soybeans, grapes, sugar beets and sometimes even byproducts of oil refining or wood pulp processing. In some Central European countries like Poland some vodka is produced by just fermenting a solution of crystal sugar and yeast. In the European Union talks about the standardization of vodka the Vodka Belt countries insist that only spirits produced from grains and potato must be allowed to be branded as "vodka", following the traditional methods of production.