distilled liquor, clear in colour and without definite aroma or taste, ranging in alcoholic content from about 40 to 55 percent. Because it is highly neutral, with flavouring substances mainly eliminated during processing, it can be made from a mash of the cheapest and most readily available raw materials suitable for fermentation. Potatoes were traditionally employed in Russia and Poland but have largely been supplanted there and in other vodka-producing countries by cereal grains.

Vodka originated in Russia during the 14th century, and the name is a diminutive of the Russian voda (“water”). The beverage was mainly popular in Russia, Poland, and the Balkan states until soon after World War II, when consumption began to increase rapidly in the United States and then in Europe. Most producers purchase previously distilled and purified neutral spirits that are extremely high in alcohol content, with almost no flavouring substances remaining. Such spirits are then additionally purified by a filtration process, usually employing charcoal, and are then reduced in strength with distilled water and bottled without aging.

In Russia, where fairly low alcohol content of 40 percent by volume (80 U.S. proof) is preferred, and in Poland, where 45 percent is more common, vodka is usually consumed unmixed and chilled, in small glasses, and accompanied by appetizers. In other countries it is popular for use in mixed drinks because of its neutral character. It may be combined with other beverages without imparting flavour of its own and substituted for other spirits in cocktails not requiring the specific flavour of the original spirit. Popular vodka drinks include the screwdriver, made with orange juice; the bloody Mary, with tomato juice; vodka and tonic, a tall drink; and the vodka martini, with vodka substituted for gin.

Vodkas are sometimes flavoured. Zubrówka, yellowish in colour, highly aromatic, and with a somewhat bitter undertone, is produced by steeping several stalks of Zubrówka, or buffalo grass, in vodka. Other flavoured vodkas are made with such ingredients as lemon peel, berries, peppercorns, and caraway.