How Can I Recognize Authentic Russian Vodka?

White Birch and Old Russian are authentic Russian vodkas. Vodka was invented in Russia a thousand years ago, and it has been crafted there ever since.

What makes an authentic Russian vodka? People have been debating this question ever since other countries started getting in on the act. But certain features would seem pretty basic.

Authentic Russian vodka begins with wheat and rye grown in Russia.

Many vodka-producing countries rely chiefly on potatoes, molasses, grapes, or even corn for their vodka. Not Russia—Russia prizes its fields of aromatic wheat and rye to create the finest vodka spirit. White Birch and Old Russian are made only from wheat and rye taken from two southern regions of Russia, where the semi-tropical sun nurtures the young plants into bountiful seed bearers.

The first step in making authentic Russian vodka involves grinding the grains of wheat and rye and slowly cooking the mixture. The resulting “mash” of starch granules must then be converted into fermentable sugars. To accomplish this conversion, enzymes of malted grains are added to the mash. Russian distillers are fastidious about the enzymes they use.

Next, the sugars are fermented. In the presence of yeast, which acts as a catalyst, basic sugar is converted into ethanol (or ethyl alcohol), giving off carbon dioxide: C6H12O6 → 2 CH3CH2OH + 2 CO2. This lasts anywhere from one to three days and produces a “wash” or “beer” that is approximately 10% alcohol by volume. Also present in the wash are various “heads and tails”—volatile chemicals such as fusel oils, esters, aldehydes, and other malodorous molecules.

Authentic Russian vodka is distilled in Russia.

The wash is now ready to be distilled and rectified. Distillation involves repeated boiling and condensation of the wash so that its alcoholic concentration becomes higher. Since alcohol boils more quickly than water, the vapor produced from boiling contains more alcohol by percentage than the remaining liquid. When this vapor condenses, it is then boiled again, producing an even more concentrated alcoholic mixture. The final grain spirit so distilled is approximately 96% alcohol. White Birch and Old Russian are made from grain spirit 100% distilled in Russia.

Authentic Russian vodka uses the best possible grain spirit.

As the wash is being distilled into 96% grain spirit, it is also being rectified. In this process, the wash vapors are pushed up a column in which everything that is not alcohol (i.e., the heads and tails), having different boiling points than alcohol, condense at different points in the column. These liquid impurities are discarded, and the liquid alcohol, as it condenses, is saved. This alcohol—or grain spirit—is then graded. Only the two highest grades of spirit—luxe and extra—are used in vodkas, such as White Birch and Old Russian, destined for export.

Authentic Russian vodka is not—and doesn’t have to be—distilled or rectified over and over and over again.

The use of grain spirit distilled and rectified in Russia is an important component of authentic Russian vodka. Russians are careful not to over-distill or over-rectify their grain spirit. Thus, unlike as with many “high-tech” vodkas in the West, the grain spirit is not distilled 7 or 8 times, to deliberately yield the most “neutral” or “flavorless” spirit possible. Nor does it require the repeated rectification that grain spirit made from industrially packaged enzymes does in the West, to remove enzyme-related odors. Rather,

[t]he basic concept applied by the Russian distillers is that vodka should preserve and convey the natural aromas of the grain spirit, retaining the characteristics of its noble raw materials, such as rye or wheat or barley. . . . The over-rectified neutral spirit, so dear to the Western industry, is generally regarded in Russia with suspicion and the preference is to use it for the mass consumption market [and not for export].

Nicholas Ermochkine & Peter Iglikowski, 40 Degrees East: An Anatomy of Vodka (Hauppage, NY: Nova Science Publishers, Inc., 2003), p. 106. White Birch and Old Russian are distilled just three times—that’s plenty.

Authentic Russian vodka achieves its richest, smoothest taste in blending and filtering.

The grain spirit, which at 96% alcohol is much too strong to drink, is now crafted into vodka. The spirit is blended with water to achieve the 40% concentration by volume considered ideal for enjoyment of the final product. Some producers use water from springs or glaciers. White Birch and Old Russian use H2O that is filtered five times. The important point is that we do not use distilled water, as do some Western producers in their quixotic quest for a beverage which is odorless, colorless, tasteless, and flavorless.

Special ingredients also may be added. In Russia, strict government standards allow minute amounts of common natural flavors to be added to the mix by professional blenders. White Birch and Old Russian are blended by master blenders, expert in the tinest nuances of taste. The same ingredients may be used in the filters through which the vodka is passed, to impart flavor. The filters, typically made of charcoal, also serve to eliminate residual impurities, and to enrich and smoothen the flavor of the vodka. Western vodkas often omit filtering entirely.

Authentic Russian vodka is bottled in Russia.

Sounds obvious, doesn’t it? But we know several vodkas that are imported in bulk quantities and then bottled a mile or two down the road from the port of entry. White Birch and Old Russian are bottled in Rostov-on-Don in Southern Russia, then sealed for your satisfaction before embarking for America from the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk. When you open a bottle of our vodka, you are opening a taste of the Russian soul.

Conclusion – You are the real judge

Compare the methods above to the ones that are used by the people who make your current vodka – assuming they are willing to tell you. Although White Birch and Old Russian are not the only authentic Russian vodkas sold in America, we think you’ll find them to be the best, by far. The critics, for their part, are unanimous in their praise. But, in the end, you, our customer, are the real judge. You will have to tell us what you think.