40 Degrees East: an anatomy of vodka by Nicholas Ermochkine

By Nicholas Ermochkine

Synopsis: Vodka is having fun with remarkable recognition within the West today. specialized vodka bars are commencing in every single place Continental Europe and the U.S.. it really is turning into more and more stylish to drink vodka neat. the head eating places in ny, Paris and London not have misgivings approximately serving caliber iced vodka with superb connoisseur dishes. top rate vodkas are usually came upon at the cabinets of retail wine retailers reserved for cognac, euax-de-vie and whiskey. yet ironically, in Poland and to a lesser measure in Russia, vodka's recognition is waning because the heart type observe wines and spirits imported from the West. what's taking place right here? This neat booklet explodes the myths surrounding vodka, unravels its background and describes its construction. the fashion and tradition of vodka ingesting are articulated in spellbinding type. this is often really one for the line.

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Extra info for 40 Degrees East: an anatomy of vodka

Sample text

We all know the experience. Out on the town or after a wild party we get back in one piece having managed the miles upon miles swimming home with the instinct of a salmon - to quote Malcolm Lowry - only to face with dread the morning after. Vodka, it is often said by its unconditional supporters in the East, will not give a hangover, or the sensation, as one of Chekhov’s characters put it, of «a cavalry regiment having bivouacked in your mouth». Is this modern myth much cherished by the distilling industry true?

Two glasses of iced Wyborowa or Stoli with a few «gherkins» can do in as many minutes what it would take a tray of strait-laced champagne to achieve in the equivalent number of hours. One of alcohol’s perceived virtues is, again if consumed moderately, to free one from certain inhibitions and cares. You will really be amazed at what vodka can do for people whose company you may have previously found less than enthralling. Two glasses of vodka can radically transform a maiden aunt and give a wholly unimagined dimension to the most tiring in-laws in record-breaking time.

Although written from an overtly Russian stance, Mr. Pokhlebkin’s book is nonetheless one of the more enlightening accounts of vodka’s history. At times the text is a little too pedantic and scholarly (on occasions seriously straining credibility), at times much too jingoistic (Russianstyle) or sometimes simply inaccurate. It is for all its faults the most detailed work available on the history of vodka. No Polish Scholar has ever come forward to seek to establish in the same way as Mr. Pokhlebkin, that vodka originated in Poland and that only Polish vodka is genuine vodka.

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