Museum of Vodka, Samokatnaya Ulitsa, 4, Moskva, Russia
The word «vodka» has been known since the 17th century and is most likely a derivative of «voda» (water). In the past, other names were also used for the drink: wine (bread wine), korchma or korchma wine, distilled wine, burning wine, burnt wine and bitter wine among others. It is thought that the drink itself, or rather its ancestor, a strong drink called aqua vitae (Latin for «water of life»), was first brought to Russia by Genoese merchants on their way to Lithuania.
They travelled via Moscow, where the foreign guests had an audience with Prince Dmitry Ivanovich, called Donskoy for his victory over the Mongol-Tartar army on the Kulikovo Field by the River Don. Flattered by the hospitality of the Moscow governor, they presented him with vessels with the above mentioned spirit. However, our ancestors were not much impressed with this distilled fermented grape juice. Mead and beer were more popular in Russia at the time.
Time passed and in 1429, foreign visitors brought aqua vitae to Moscow once again; this time it was served as the universal cure. The liquid was appreciated at the court of the young prince Vasily the Second Vasilievitch, who later lost his eyesight in the feud with his relatives and got the nickname of «Dark». As the drink was too strong, it was normally diluted with water. It is likely that the idea of diluting alcohol (that is what aqua vitae actually was) with water was the starting point for manufacturing Russian vodka that was produced from grain, which was abundant in Russia. In the 15th century the monasteries of Russia began producing grain vodka.
Epic Russia Culture & Adventure Route © Monika Newbound
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