Speaker 1: Hey, listeners, You're going to get the same information again
Speaker 1: if you listen regularly, But just in case, you want
Speaker 1: to make sure everybody knows that we have a little
Speaker 1: fun excursion plan to go to Paris. So we are
Speaker 1: both incredibly excited about going to Paris. I've been doing
Speaker 1: my duo lingo every day. I know, we all know that.
Speaker 1: How in spite of my formal French study, I'm really
Speaker 1: bad at it. So every morning I'm brushing up to
Speaker 1: get ready for this trip. I am too, because mine
Speaker 1: is pretty sloppy. My vocabulary is okay, but my grammar
Speaker 1: is pretty train ricky. So the good news is, even
Speaker 1: if you don't speak a word of French, you're covered.
Speaker 1: The way this whole thing is set up, you do
Speaker 1: not have to be able to speak French in order
Speaker 1: to enjoy the trip. Now we will have local guides
Speaker 1: who will be helping us navigate the language, navigate the city,
Speaker 1: all of that. It is in June of this year,
Speaker 1: which is twenty nineteen. If you come to our website,
Speaker 1: which is missed in history dot com, there is a
Speaker 1: link up at the top of the menu, or if
Speaker 1: you're on a mobile device, if you click the little
Speaker 1: menu button. It'll drop down it says Paris trip exclamation point,
Speaker 1: and it'll have all the information how to sign up,
Speaker 1: how to get in touch with the people who are
Speaker 1: run this whole thing. If you have questions, we hope
Speaker 1: we see you there because you can join us, and
Speaker 1: we'd love for you to Welcome to stuff you missed
Speaker 1: in history class from how Stuff Works dot com. Hello,
Speaker 1: and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly Frying and I'm
Speaker 1: Tracy V. Wilson. I'm excited and self serving because today
Speaker 1: we're going to talk about my spirit of choice, vodka.
Speaker 1: As soon as you told me what you were researching,
Speaker 1: I thought this is gonna be Holly's favorite episode ever. Um,
Speaker 1: sort of. I mean, we get into some of the
Speaker 1: bleak stuff that comes with vodka, so it's not all
Speaker 1: fun in games. I certainly enjoy a cocktail, but obviously
Speaker 1: we are not advocating over imbibing drink responsibly. We just
Speaker 1: want to talk about the history of this drink um
Speaker 1: and the story of vodka is one that is really
Speaker 1: closely tied to cultural identity for several countries. But we're
Speaker 1: gonna examine where it originated and how it evolved over
Speaker 1: time and how those identities sort of formed. I bet
Speaker 1: when I say vodka and country, people automatically make a connection,
Speaker 1: and we'll talk about why that's the case. Uh, We're
Speaker 1: going to talk a little bit also about how vodka
Speaker 1: is made, and then we'll get into that part about
Speaker 1: where it came from and how it has expanded to
Speaker 1: become really a global market, focusing on those countries where
Speaker 1: it remains and has become most popular. And then we
Speaker 1: have to talk about some of the problematic aspects of
Speaker 1: vodka's place in the world. But I promise we'll end
Speaker 1: in a fairly fun place. Yeah, vodka is a little
Speaker 1: unusual and that it can be made from a lot
Speaker 1: of different things while still being considered vodka, which isn't
Speaker 1: so much the case with a number of other spirits.
Speaker 1: There are, of course, a lot of opinions and disagreements
Speaker 1: about just how far afield you can go and selecting
Speaker 1: the base ingredient while still calling the resulting spirit vodka. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this starts some heated debates I discovered in my research. Uh,
Speaker 1: it requires a sugar or starch element to begin with,
Speaker 1: so most popular in Russia and Poland as well as
Speaker 1: other countries kind of in that northern belt are grains,
Speaker 1: potatoes or sugar beat molasses as the starting ingredient. Uh.
Speaker 1: There is actually an area that's colloquially called the vodka belt,
Speaker 1: which stretches from Sweden to Poland, and that produces the
Speaker 1: majority of the vodka that is consumed in the European Union.
Speaker 1: In other places, though, there's a greater variability, including using
Speaker 1: things like corn and fruit, and whether those things should
Speaker 1: be considered vodka was the matter of debate for some time.
Speaker 1: European Parliament ruled on the matter in two thousand seven,
Speaker 1: giving a wider range of options for distillers, all following
Speaker 1: under this vodka umbrella, defining vodka as a spirit drink
Speaker 1: produced from ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin. Yeah, you can,
Speaker 1: even if you're feeling very very ambitious and uh want
Speaker 1: to do some some juggling and babysitting, You could even
Speaker 1: start a vodka from just sugar, although it's not really
Speaker 1: the recommended for general making, is my understanding. I have
Speaker 1: never distilled vodka myself, so I'm going by what I
Speaker 1: have read. Uh. That ruling that we just talked about
Speaker 1: was unsurprisingly not entirely popular for vodka purists, it really
Speaker 1: signaled a degradation to the spirit, and the Finnish politician
Speaker 1: Alexander Stubb made the case that vodka should be more
Speaker 1: specifically defined. He said at that time, quote, we have
Speaker 1: made vodka out of potato and grain for over five
Speaker 1: hundred years. When we became EU members in we were
Speaker 1: told that vodka would have a tight definition, just like rum,
Speaker 1: just like whiskey, just like grappa. We don't want vodka
Speaker 1: to be some kind of alcoholic waste basket. I really
Speaker 1: like the idea that like it sounds almost like they're
Speaker 1: they're becoming. Part of the EU was in some ways
Speaker 1: contingent on the definition of vodka. Yes, that was definitely
Speaker 1: part of what they were they were agreeing to is
Speaker 1: that voda I would have this this rigorous, fairly rigorous
Speaker 1: standard applied to it. And that didn't really pan out. Now.
Speaker 1: The reason that the rules of what could be used
Speaker 1: to produce vodka were relaxed was that vodka was already
Speaker 1: being made from a variety of ingredients of distilleries all
Speaker 1: over Europe, and excluding the producers that used alternates to
Speaker 1: grain and potatoes could have led to a trade war
Speaker 1: countries outside of the EU were making vodka out of
Speaker 1: all kinds of things, and so had the ruling had
Speaker 1: taken a more strict stance, that would have opened a
Speaker 1: huge can of worms in terms of the global spirits market. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So if you would imagine trying to put this in
Speaker 1: sort of real terms instead of just theoreticals, if you
Speaker 1: went into your local liquor store today to buy vodka
Speaker 1: and you see all of the offerings, and then something
Speaker 1: like this had happened and some people in the world said, no, no,
Speaker 1: that thing you've been buying is vodka for X number
Speaker 1: of years is no longer vodka. Like, it would just
Speaker 1: be a little bit of chaos, uh, into of how
Speaker 1: manufacturers labeled things. I imagine there would be pushedback because
Speaker 1: people wouldn't want to change the identities of the products
Speaker 1: they had been making for a long time. It really
Speaker 1: just would have been an absolute chaotic miss uh. Incidentally,
Speaker 1: in the US, vodka is legally defined in ultra broad
Speaker 1: terms as quote neutral spirits so distilled or so treated
Speaker 1: after distillation with charcoal or other materials, as to be
Speaker 1: without distinctive character, aroma, taste, or color. That is pretty.
Speaker 1: It's so so broad and nebulous yet regardless of whether
Speaker 1: the primary ingredient is an old school traditional take or
Speaker 1: one that falls under the wider rules. After the fermenting
Speaker 1: ingredient is selected, it goes through fermentation. The base material
Speaker 1: is crushed, blended with water, and heated, which turns the
Speaker 1: start into sugar. That result is combined with yeast, and
Speaker 1: then the fluid is distilled from the combined mixture. So alcohol,
Speaker 1: of course boils more quickly than water, so the alcohol
Speaker 1: component in that mixture vaporizes more quickly than the water
Speaker 1: in the mix, and that vapor is captured, excluding the
Speaker 1: very first and last vapors of the batch. And next
Speaker 1: that vapor is then condensed into a very potent alcohol,
Speaker 1: and then that alcohol is combined again with water to
Speaker 1: produce the final product, vodka. That's the very basic process.
Speaker 1: If you've completed those steps, you have what could technically
Speaker 1: be called vodka, but it can be and usually is
Speaker 1: further refined and process to alter the taste and the purity.
Speaker 1: Filtering it through charcoal, lava, linen, or a number of
Speaker 1: other substances, or performing multiple distillations will make the spirit
Speaker 1: cleaner and purer and also remove virtually all of the taste. Yeah,
Speaker 1: if you go on a an online splunking expedition to
Speaker 1: see what people have used to filter vodka, you will
Speaker 1: find everything from like diamond dust to two pieces of cloth.
Speaker 1: And for something that becomes part of their brand identity
Speaker 1: or if they're doing like small batch artisanal stuff, it's
Speaker 1: part of their thing that they're they're creating new ways
Speaker 1: to do it. And of course, uh, flavored vodka is
Speaker 1: very popular and the flavor has to be added after
Speaker 1: all of these other steps. This is often done at
Speaker 1: the production level, but there are also plenty of consumers
Speaker 1: who like to add their own flavor infusions to plain
Speaker 1: vodka for custom flavor. So I'm sure if you have
Speaker 1: friends who drink, you know somebody who has been Like,
Speaker 1: I infused my vodka with jolly ranchers, or with apples,
Speaker 1: or with any number of other I've had friends who
Speaker 1: have done it with jelly beans. The result was delicious. Uh,
Speaker 1: it just depends on what you like. There are consumers
Speaker 1: and connoisseurs who desire a vodka that still tastes at
Speaker 1: least a little bit like its original ingredients, rather than
Speaker 1: having a post distillation added flavor. Some artisanal vodka producers
Speaker 1: use small copper moonshine stills and that of the stills
Speaker 1: that are used in larger production setups because the resulting
Speaker 1: spirit retains some of those component tastes. Yeah, if you
Speaker 1: want your vodka to taste like a little like the
Speaker 1: wheat or the potato or whatever was used initially, then
Speaker 1: that is probably a better way to achieve it. Quality
Speaker 1: standards for vodka are actually a really tricky topic because
Speaker 1: there aren't any that are universally recognized. Uh. Some countries,
Speaker 1: such as Poland, defined quality by purity. There are other
Speaker 1: municipalities that categorize simply by alcohol content, like what percentage
Speaker 1: of the resulting spirit is alcohol? Uh. There's also marketing
Speaker 1: in the mix playing apart, with some distillers touting the
Speaker 1: purity of the water that they use as the ultimate
Speaker 1: determinant of quality. We're about to dive in so where
Speaker 1: all of this vodka production started, or at least where
Speaker 1: people think it started. But first we will take a
Speaker 1: break to hear from one of the sponsors that keeps
Speaker 1: the show going. While the identity of vodka today is
Speaker 1: one of an intoxicant, initially, it's believed that it was
Speaker 1: developed for medicinal use, but it's exact point of origin
Speaker 1: is lost to time and is consequently argued by various
Speaker 1: countries wishing to claim ownership of the world's most popular spirit.
Speaker 1: Russia and Poland remain locked in their ongoing argument over
Speaker 1: the matter, both using language is evidence. So the Russian
Speaker 1: word for water is vota with a V. The Polish
Speaker 1: word for water is vota with a W. It's a
Speaker 1: very subtle difference. I'm probably not enunciating it in a
Speaker 1: way that makes that that difference apparent to native speakers,
Speaker 1: but they do sound very similar, uh, particularly to Western ears.
Speaker 1: And proponents of the Polish origins of vodka say that
Speaker 1: the word vodka with a W spelled the W instead
Speaker 1: of a V, appeared in print before vodka with a V,
Speaker 1: and thus it must be Polish in origin. There are
Speaker 1: some additional elements in this whole Russia versus Poland debate
Speaker 1: on where vodka came from. A Polish drink called gor
Speaker 1: zolka has existed since the eleventh century, and there have
Speaker 1: been some assertions that that's the original proto vodka, but
Speaker 1: the counter argument is that the historic drink of gorge
Speaker 1: yolka is a more general undefined alcoholic spirit and not
Speaker 1: really anything that can be definitively linked to vodka. Ukraine
Speaker 1: also has a claim to vodka's birthplace because that area
Speaker 1: produced the most grains in the region in the fifteenth century,
Speaker 1: so it would make sense that grain based alcohol originated there.
Speaker 1: And there is even the possibility, truly that vodka actually
Speaker 1: first entered the region from somewhere else, and that locals
Speaker 1: then figured out how to make their own. We know
Speaker 1: that vodka as we know it originated somewhere in eastern Europe,
Speaker 1: but whether that's in modern Ukraine, Russia, Poland, or Belarus,
Speaker 1: we don't really know. The whole region is inhospitable to
Speaker 1: rapes as a crop, so inventive folks came up with
Speaker 1: new ways to make alcohol. The prevailing theory is that
Speaker 1: we have monks to thank for it. This is true
Speaker 1: with the number of other alcohols. They needed a spirit
Speaker 1: to use as a sedative and disinfectant in the communities
Speaker 1: where they worked, and they turned to wheat to get it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so that's why it kind of has those origins as
Speaker 1: a medicinal. In the fourteen hundreds, vodka production became more
Speaker 1: refined and it also branched out to use other grains.
Speaker 1: Early vodkas were most likely quite sharp, having a very
Speaker 1: unpleasant flavor. They weren't doing all of that refining and
Speaker 1: filtering that we would do today, so flavoring started to
Speaker 1: be added in order to help make it more palatable. Fruit, honey,
Speaker 1: and spices came into the picture. But in making vodka
Speaker 1: more tasty, distillers helped to shift it away from simply
Speaker 1: medicinal use to recreational because then it started to be yummy,
Speaker 1: and that shift in identity to a beverage from a
Speaker 1: medicine lead to more ernamentation and innovation. Vodka stayed largely
Speaker 1: in Northern Europe for a while, but eventually it began
Speaker 1: to spread. Like other products we've talked about as shipping
Speaker 1: and industry group, vodka was able to travel farther and
Speaker 1: farther away from its point of origin. But even so
Speaker 1: there was still a lot of cool stuff going on
Speaker 1: in that sort of cradle where it first came about.
Speaker 1: In Poland, in particular, herbal vodkas were developed to treat
Speaker 1: all manner of ailments and concerns in the sixteenth century,
Speaker 1: and it was also in Poland the potatoes were first
Speaker 1: used in fermentation to create vodka, and Polish distillers continued
Speaker 1: to drive the exploration of flavorings and tweaks to distilling
Speaker 1: methods well into the nineteenth century. But vodka is often
Speaker 1: linked with Russia and Russian cultural identity, and that's due
Speaker 1: in part how quickly I'm In the Third of Russia,
Speaker 1: also known as I'm In the Great, established vodka as
Speaker 1: a key revenue source in the country. In fourteen seventy four,
Speaker 1: he started taxing vodka and set up a government based
Speaker 1: monopoly on the beverage, and that set the stage for
Speaker 1: his successor, I'm In the Fourth, known as I'm In
Speaker 1: the Terrible, to continue manipulating the flow of vodka to
Speaker 1: suit his own desires. Ivan the Fourth went so far
Speaker 1: as to exclude most of his people from having access
Speaker 1: to vodka. He set up a new social class of
Speaker 1: loyal favorites, and only they could have vodka, and in
Speaker 1: this move he redistributed land to them and also turned
Speaker 1: his back on the nobility that had existed before this restructure.
Speaker 1: He also used vodka to keep people loyal to him,
Speaker 1: because cross the czar and you would lose your drinking privileges.
Speaker 1: Other Russian leaders similarly used vodka as a means to
Speaker 1: reward their favorites and to intoxicate guests so that they
Speaker 1: would tell state secrets, and in the case of Peter
Speaker 1: the Great, force enemies to drink until they collapsed. But
Speaker 1: it was Catherine the Second, also known as Katherine the Great,
Speaker 1: who instituted changes that once again put vodka in the
Speaker 1: glasses in the cups of common people. Under her rule,
Speaker 1: the vodka monopoly ended and more distillers were licensed to
Speaker 1: produce the spirit. The cau of vodka were also regulated
Speaker 1: to keep prices reasonable, but this often led to the
Speaker 1: dilution of the product on a part of the producers. Yeah,
Speaker 1: if the costs were going to be capped at a
Speaker 1: pretty low amount, they were like, well, we're going to
Speaker 1: stretch our product then. Uh. This also led to vodka
Speaker 1: quality being seen as a shorthand way to identify one status.
Speaker 1: So even though they had taken away the the access
Speaker 1: through the hierarchy, it's sort of built itself again in
Speaker 1: a new way. The wealthiest households began distilling their own
Speaker 1: vodkas with an array of expensive flavorings and spices, and
Speaker 1: this was to maintain their distance from peasants in the
Speaker 1: eyes of guests. Even the potency of the perfect vodka
Speaker 1: was scientifically measured by the Russian scientist Dmitri Mentally, if
Speaker 1: you believe that myth that name sounds familiar, it's because
Speaker 1: his published work Tentative System of Elements as the foundation
Speaker 1: of the periodic Table of the Elements. But before that,
Speaker 1: his dissertation A Discourse on the Combination of Alcohol and
Speaker 1: Water is said to have established thirty eight percent alcohol
Speaker 1: by volume as the best proportion for vodka. In fact,
Speaker 1: he was working with theoreticals and alcohols and much higher
Speaker 1: concentrations than that. None of it had anything to do
Speaker 1: with setting a gold standard for vodka. His connection to
Speaker 1: vodka has been mythologized a lot over the years. It's
Speaker 1: easy to find assertions that he invented vodka. Obviously he
Speaker 1: did not do that, or that he served on the
Speaker 1: state's regulatory commission and was tasked with implementing rules for
Speaker 1: the perfect vodka. He did serve on a government weights
Speaker 1: and measures agency, but he wasn't given any kind of
Speaker 1: mandate to codify vodka production. Just the same, his story
Speaker 1: used in various advertisements and spread throughout the Internet has
Speaker 1: added to this perception that Russia is the epicenter of
Speaker 1: all things vodka. Yeah. The trick there is that at
Speaker 1: least I could not find an English translation of that
Speaker 1: dissertation that he wrote, so it's very easy for people
Speaker 1: to claim what is in it. Yet, so it really
Speaker 1: really does spread like wildfire. I'd read that dissertation, though,
Speaker 1: I would do. Uh. In the eighteen sixties, Pyotr A.
Speaker 1: Smyrnov founded a vodka company in Moscow which became the
Speaker 1: favored source of the spirit for the country's royals, and
Speaker 1: it is now one of the most common brands in
Speaker 1: the world, and it continues that link between Russia and
Speaker 1: vodka in the minds of consumers everywhere. Under the Bolsheviks
Speaker 1: in the nineteens, alcohol was outlawed. When the Soviet Union
Speaker 1: was established in Nino, mild alcoholic drinks were once again
Speaker 1: allowed to be sold, and in vodka was again legalized
Speaker 1: at normal proof. When Joseph Stalin gained power in the
Speaker 1: nineteen thirties, he had state run distilleries increased production to
Speaker 1: generate revenue, even though he knew there was a real
Speaker 1: problem with alcoholism in the country. Yeah, we're going to
Speaker 1: talk about that again in just a little while. But
Speaker 1: though some temperance efforts started after Stalin died, drinking remained
Speaker 1: a problem, and it wasn't until the nineteen eighties under
Speaker 1: Gorbachev that temperance efforts got a real boost and the
Speaker 1: government made a concerted effort to get the entire country
Speaker 1: on board. And while the programs that were initiated during
Speaker 1: this time did curtail drinking to some degree and improve
Speaker 1: overall health statistics of the population, eventually public sentiment turned
Speaker 1: against it. Next up, we're going to talk about how
Speaker 1: vodka became one of the most popular liquors in the
Speaker 1: United States, But first we will have a quick sponsor break.
Speaker 1: Uh surprise, the US is the world's second greatest consumer
Speaker 1: of vodka after Russia. That may or may not surprise you.
Speaker 1: I found it a little surprising. Vodka didn't really get
Speaker 1: a serious place in drinking state side though until after prohibition.
Speaker 1: Prior to that, there was just a smattering of mediocre
Speaker 1: vodka options available, and it really didn't catch on in
Speaker 1: any sort of significant way. In the nineteen thirties, the
Speaker 1: Russian immigrant named Rudolph Kunnitt, who had purchased the rights
Speaker 1: to use the smeared off name started selling better vodka
Speaker 1: in the United States than had been available previously. His
Speaker 1: Connecticut distillery struggled until the end of that decade when
Speaker 1: it was purchased on behalf of Hubland's Liquor Company by
Speaker 1: John G. Martin. Hublands was absorbed by a larger company,
Speaker 1: but Martin had wisely made sure that he retained the
Speaker 1: rights to the smeared off name. Yeah, he had been
Speaker 1: an executive with Hublands and uh he had had written
Speaker 1: that in smartly where he got some rights for distribution.
Speaker 1: But Martin didn't figure out a way to capitalize on
Speaker 1: his rights to the smearing off name until when he
Speaker 1: and his friend and tavern owner came up with the
Speaker 1: combination of ginger beer and vodka with lemon or lime
Speaker 1: juice in a copper mug. Uh. This has its own
Speaker 1: mythology around it. Where it happened in l A, which
Speaker 1: is where his friend's tavern was, versus it happened in
Speaker 1: New York and it only took off in l A.
Speaker 1: And that one of them had too much ginger beer
Speaker 1: and one of them had too much vodka, and it
Speaker 1: was almost a Reese's cup situation, and we don't really know,
Speaker 1: but he they he is completely recognized he and his
Speaker 1: friend as originating the Moscow mule uh. And once that
Speaker 1: drink was born, it finally made drinkers in the United
Speaker 1: States embrace vodka, at least until World War Two. After
Speaker 1: the war, for a while, vodka became sort of spirit
Speaker 1: non grata in the US as the Cold War began
Speaker 1: and all things associated with the Soviet Union reviewed through
Speaker 1: that lens. It didn't go away completely and Martin was
Speaker 1: still concocting other cocktails with vodka, but it really it
Speaker 1: kind of had a big spike in in popularity and
Speaker 1: then a big drop off. Vodka's reputation perked up once
Speaker 1: Sean Connery ordered a vodka martini and dr No in
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty two, but then it really got a boost
Speaker 1: when President Richard Nixon, after visiting the Soviet Union, approved
Speaker 1: business between Pepsicola and the USSR and exchanged for assistance
Speaker 1: and setting up a pepsi factory in the Soviet Union.
Speaker 1: The US business was paid in stolech Nia vodka, which
Speaker 1: made the soda giant the stolen distributor in the US.
Speaker 1: With the backing of a massive Kola brand, vodka became
Speaker 1: the most popular spirit in the US in nine Vodka
Speaker 1: remains one of the most popular liquors in the United
Speaker 1: States and smeared off as the most popular brand. Yeah.
Speaker 1: If you look at like year to year top ten
Speaker 1: uh spirits in the US, vodka is almost always in
Speaker 1: the top two and usually it is um smearnoff. It
Speaker 1: shifts a little bit, but I think whiskey kind of
Speaker 1: stays at the top, or has for the last several
Speaker 1: years anyway. Um, but that's all fun and games. But
Speaker 1: we have to acknowledge that vodka has a pretty dark
Speaker 1: side to its history as well. There have certainly been
Speaker 1: plenty of issues that stemmed from over indulgence in and
Speaker 1: addiction to alcohol in the world's ongoing story. For example,
Speaker 1: in the late night eighteenth century, Russia was in the
Speaker 1: middle of a real crisis of alcoholism. It was so
Speaker 1: bad that it threatened the labor pool and caused outcry
Speaker 1: from activist groups and churches and medical professionals. Eventually, Zar
Speaker 1: Alexander the Third couldn't ignore the problem any longer and
Speaker 1: limited the production of vodka, put regulations in place to
Speaker 1: mandate quality and formed a Temperance Society that touted the
Speaker 1: idea of drinking in moderation, despite the fact that the
Speaker 1: name of the society, which was the Guardianship of Public Sobriety,
Speaker 1: might suggest that it would be against the drink altogether.
Speaker 1: To be clear, though Alexander the Third himself was a drinker, Yeah,
Speaker 1: he was definitely responding to outside pressures. He was not like, hey,
Speaker 1: we should cut back on drinking in the country because
Speaker 1: he loved to drink. The state also started a program
Speaker 1: to boost non alcoholic entertainments as a means to curtail drinking.
Speaker 1: Free theater and concerts, as well as adult education offerings
Speaker 1: and other leisure incentives were offered, but none of this
Speaker 1: really worked at all. Regulations did not stop illicit liquor
Speaker 1: sales and the production of inferior product, and this problem
Speaker 1: with alcoholism persisted into the Russo Japanese War and actually
Speaker 1: caused Russia battles, backing them into a corner and putting
Speaker 1: them in a really weak position for brokering a treaty. Additionally,
Speaker 1: the Czar's decision to ban alcohol in an effort to
Speaker 1: help the troops stay on task for that conflict meant
Speaker 1: that a huge source of tax revenue was lost in
Speaker 1: the process, and all of that was before the twentieth
Speaker 1: century efforts to sober up the country that we mentioned
Speaker 1: earlier in a study titled Alcohol and Mortality was conducted
Speaker 1: at the University of Toronto, and it featured some really
Speaker 1: grim data. The authors of the paper, Jurgen rem and
Speaker 1: Kevin D. Shield, outline the fact that more than two
Speaker 1: hundred different diseases are linked to alcohol, but their research
Speaker 1: focuses on cancer, liver, cirrhosis, and injury, and their research
Speaker 1: indicated that in four of all deaths globally from those
Speaker 1: diseases were attributable to alcohol consumption that same year, alcohol
Speaker 1: consumption resulted in an average percentage of years lost of
Speaker 1: four point three. Those numbers increased as compared to similar
Speaker 1: data from This is not in your outline, but I
Speaker 1: was reading a thing recently that was a hypothesis that
Speaker 1: one of the reasons that breast cancer rates are lower
Speaker 1: in Utah is because of Utah's more stringent alcohol laws.
Speaker 1: I cannot speak to that because I have not read it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, it's one of those things, right, we definitely
Speaker 1: have to kind of acknowledge that, uh, consuming alcohol comes
Speaker 1: with inherent danger. There was a recent study I didn't
Speaker 1: put it in my notes either, so I'm quoting it
Speaker 1: kind of out of the air that basically I think
Speaker 1: it was from or twenty seventeen that was, like, really,
Speaker 1: the safest way to consume alcohol is to not consume alcohol,
Speaker 1: because even though there are and it's outlined in the
Speaker 1: RAM paper, there are some specific health issues that alcohol
Speaker 1: and moderation can actually help, but for the most part,
Speaker 1: like the dangers are far worse than any of them.
Speaker 1: So just things to consider. We're not telling people to
Speaker 1: go out and drink a ton of vodka. Um, let's
Speaker 1: all be grown ups. Uh we and we don't want
Speaker 1: to minimize also or downplay the issue of over indulgence
Speaker 1: or addiction. Uh. But that would be a really downer
Speaker 1: place to end this episode. So instead, I thought it
Speaker 1: might be fun to close with a few anecdotes and
Speaker 1: facts about vodka that are just sort of fascinating on
Speaker 1: their own. We mentioned earlier that vodka was probably originally
Speaker 1: concocted for medicinal use, but there are still plenty of
Speaker 1: sort of old wives remedies that make use of it.
Speaker 1: Alcohol infused with St. John's work and sage is believed
Speaker 1: to have had curative powers as a liniment. Vodka served
Speaker 1: with black pepper is an old Russian cold remedy, and
Speaker 1: vodka fumes from infused fabrics are believed by some to
Speaker 1: cure everything from muscle aches to ear problems. It's also
Speaker 1: used as an astringent cleanser to clean out pours and
Speaker 1: as a disinfectant for wounds. It can be used for
Speaker 1: cleaning surfaces as well as humans, as a polished for mirrors,
Speaker 1: chrome tile and the like. Yeah, it definitely will kill
Speaker 1: all your stuff. My favorite use for vodka which I
Speaker 1: didn't put in here, but it is. Here's the trick
Speaker 1: I give to you that I learned from working in
Speaker 1: costume shops forever. If you get cheap, cheap vodka and
Speaker 1: you put it in a spritzer bottle, Uh, if you
Speaker 1: can't make it to a dry cleaner, that will freshen
Speaker 1: up your clothes, kill any bacteria that are causing odor,
Speaker 1: and help you get through to your next thing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this is why I have in my bathroom under the
Speaker 1: sink there are two spray bottles, both clearly marked so
Speaker 1: I don't confuse them. One contains peroxide, the other contains vodka. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I at one point I was helping out as like
Speaker 1: a really low level mouse in a costume shop that
Speaker 1: was serving a ballet company, and they're Uh. Their costume
Speaker 1: director was always walking around with the bottle of vodka
Speaker 1: and spritsing things to make sure that they did not
Speaker 1: smell bad, especially if you were doing like a matinee
Speaker 1: performance in an evening, and there was no way to
Speaker 1: really do serious cleaning between the two in terms of time,
Speaker 1: especially when you're trying to prep things for a full
Speaker 1: quarter ballet. Uh. A little vodka spirits will help perk
Speaker 1: things up and make it not smell bad. Uh. There's
Speaker 1: also another little household hind which is that adding vodka
Speaker 1: and sugar to water at the base of Christmas trees
Speaker 1: or two vases of flowers is thought to prolong the
Speaker 1: life of the plants. I have never tried that one
Speaker 1: me neither. Just don't make your don't make your Christmas
Speaker 1: tree water accidentally flammable. In the eighteen sixties, the smear
Speaker 1: Knof distillery added annis and egg whites to combine with
Speaker 1: the vodka to make it more delicious. I would like
Speaker 1: to disagree smear enough about whether that would be more delicious.
Speaker 1: Is it the liquorice or the egg white etic I
Speaker 1: love liquorice, so this sounds still light. You can have
Speaker 1: if you've never had like egg white foam in an
Speaker 1: alcoholic drink, and that may sound weird to you. I
Speaker 1: encourage you, if you are of legal drinking age, to
Speaker 1: try it because it's quite interesting. There's a there's some
Speaker 1: good tiki drinks to feature it as well. Uh, this
Speaker 1: is another one that I love. Inn. The Bullshoy Theater
Speaker 1: in Moscow, which was originally built in seventeen seventy six,
Speaker 1: went through a major spruce up and renovation. It actually
Speaker 1: started far before eleven, but that's when it finished after
Speaker 1: it had been neglected for several decades. But when it
Speaker 1: came to the finishing touches performed by guilders, they turned
Speaker 1: to a medieval recipe. It turns out to make perfect
Speaker 1: gold guilt, egg whites have to be first kept in
Speaker 1: a warm room for forty days, and then those egg
Speaker 1: whites are mixed with a clay, and then the magic ingredient,
Speaker 1: vodka is added to that mixture, which is then used
Speaker 1: to apply gold leaf and according to Mikhail Sudarov, who
Speaker 1: works for the company that handled this refurbishment project, quote,
Speaker 1: this method keeps gold from being overused and helps retain
Speaker 1: its luster for fifty to seventy years. So, in essence,
Speaker 1: the same kind of thing that makes baked bread look
Speaker 1: shiny and delicious will also make your gold gleam and
Speaker 1: gleam in the light. Due to an uptick in specific diets,
Speaker 1: there are now vodka's marketed that fit within various eating restrictions,
Speaker 1: So any domestically made non flavored, grain or potato based
Speaker 1: vodka in the US is considered kosher. Some brands made
Speaker 1: outside the US to use to seek Kosher certification from
Speaker 1: the Orthodox Union, including stolach Naya and Crystal Head, and
Speaker 1: some vodkas include messaging on the label about their gluten
Speaker 1: free status. Yeah, if you have dietary restrictions, there is
Speaker 1: probably a company out there making vodka that wants to
Speaker 1: make sure you know you can drink whatever it is
Speaker 1: they're making. Um. And because I love talking about art,
Speaker 1: we're gonna end with innovative Norwegian artist Zebjorn sand And.
Speaker 1: When sound was visiting Antarctica and was inspired to hate
Speaker 1: using the watercolors that he had brought with him. He
Speaker 1: ran into a little bit of a problem, which is
Speaker 1: his paints were freezing before he could get anything done.
Speaker 1: And his Russian guides suggested vodka, and he found success
Speaker 1: when he mixed that with his pigments, and he called
Speaker 1: the resulting technique vodka color. I love a little innovation.
Speaker 1: I feel like vodka is sort of one of those
Speaker 1: universal solvent substances because it does get you still medicinely,
Speaker 1: still for cleaning and a stringent needs, and also in
Speaker 1: art and also to make things beautiful and guilt edged
Speaker 1: with gold fabulous. Again, don't overindulge. Please be careful with
Speaker 1: your vodka consumption, or don't drink at all. If that
Speaker 1: is the choice that you would rather make. Yeah, totally fine.
Speaker 1: Uh what whatever works for you and is best for
Speaker 1: your health. I feel a little like Steve Rule. But
Speaker 1: when I'm back up off of that, I have a
Speaker 1: postcard this week. But here's the problem. I'm going to
Speaker 1: read it, but I don't know who it's from because
Speaker 1: it appears they did not sign it. I think they
Speaker 1: just forgot because it's a lovely little note. Uh. But
Speaker 1: if you were the person that sent this to us.
Speaker 1: Thank you, and I'm sorry we can't say your name
Speaker 1: on the air because I don't see it anywhere on
Speaker 1: the card, although they did put a little additional thing
Speaker 1: that says thank you for being awesome up in the corner,
Speaker 1: but not their name, but they wrote, Hey ladies. I
Speaker 1: visited San Francisco in December. I just had to go
Speaker 1: to the trolley Car Museum, which Tracy talked about in
Speaker 1: her San Francisco trolley Car episode that she wrote. I
Speaker 1: talked about it as well, but she did the research
Speaker 1: on that one. My boyfriend was hesitant to go, but
Speaker 1: he uh literally didn't stop talking about it afterwards. We
Speaker 1: also visited Quite Tower and learned about Lily, so I
Speaker 1: thought i'd share. And the postcard is a picture of
Speaker 1: Lily Hitchcock quoit uh and the caption on the back
Speaker 1: of the postcard says, seven year old Lily Hitchcock's life
Speaker 1: was saved by volunteers of Knickerbocker Engine Live Ever after
Speaker 1: Lily was their patron and honorary member of the company.
Speaker 1: Lily's bequest for San Francisco's beautification built Quite Tower. Uh.
Speaker 1: So that's a cool little combo of visiting a place
Speaker 1: we've talked about on the show and giving us a
Speaker 1: little mini education via postcard. So thank you, thank you,
Speaker 1: thank you to whatever wonderful person sent us this. Uh.
Speaker 1: If you would like to write to us, you can
Speaker 1: do so at History Podcast at how stuff works dot com.
Speaker 1: You can also find us everywhere on social media as
Speaker 1: missed in History, and you can go to missed in
Speaker 1: History dot com to see all of the episodes of
Speaker 1: the show that have ever existed, including show notes on
Speaker 1: any of the ones Tracy and I have worked on.
Speaker 1: If you would like to subscribe to the show, that
Speaker 1: sounds like a grand idea to me. You can do
Speaker 1: that through the I Heart Radio app, the Apple podcast player,
Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts. For more on this
Speaker 1: and thousands of other topics, visit housetop works dot com.