Vodka Verity

If you are looking for a blog that is going to pontificate about events concerning Russia, Ukraine, NATO, the U.S. and China, you are in the wrong place. But until the world comes to an end, I want to know what is OK to put over ice while we watch the evening news.

It seems that well meaning and patriotic bar and liquor store owners across the western world are pouring Russian vodka down the drain in solidarity with the Ukrainians fighting for their country.

Now here on Brumby Road, the vodka of choice is Stolichnaya. Always has been. ‘Stoli’ acquired cachet back in the late 1970’s when it first became available in the US and the Soviets needed hard currency to go onto the wheat futures market and steal our grain at rock bottom prices. I remember it sold for $25 for a 750 ml bottle, which was astonishingly expensive at the time. Even Jack Daniels was only about $10 per bottle back then.

Today at BevMo, you can get a 1.75 liter bottle for $23, which demonstrates that not all essential goods are participating in the current 7.5% annual inflation rate. And the quality seems as good as ever. Although with vodka it can be hard to differentiate, since it has kind of a numbing effect. Great for aches and pains and attitude adjustment though.

So I looked on the back of the bottle that we keep in the freezer, ready and waiting for the News Hour, and look what I found:

Produced and bottled in Latvia! Hooray! Latvia is a NATO member and one of the countries in the line of fire if Putin really wants to recreate the USSR, so I can buy their vodka with a clear conscience knowing I am helping an ally.

Then my friend Gavin from the UK (not that other Gavin, the mask man) informed me that the water is Latvian, but the alcohol is Russian! Gavin does something in banking and currencies and knows quite a bit more about this kind of thing than I do.

Now even if what Gavin (the Good Gavin, not that guy in Sacto) says is true, to me this seems like an excellent example of detente, “where East and West can meet as comrades, ease the tension, over drinks”. This is an obscure musical theater reference and the kind of thing that rumbles around in my head. Anybody recognize it? Here’s a clue…

I wanted to know more, so I went to Google and Wikipedia. Here is some of what I found:

Stolichnaya, for example, is a historic Russian brand owned by two different companies – one based in Russia, and one based in Luxembourg. The Stolichnaya vodka you find in the US, for example, is made in Latvia.

Luxemborg! The gnomes of Zurich are close to hand. You can’t get more Capitalist than that. And:

Stoli vodka is currently produced in Latvia, a former Soviet republic that joined NATO in 2004.

And now to add to the confusion:

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union the ownership of the brand has been disputed between a Russian state-owned company and SPI Group, a private company. The Stolichnaya sold in the US is made by the latter company, which distills it in Lativa (though it does use alcohol from a distillery in Russia).

So here is what I think happens. Low quality alcohol from Russia is sent to the magic vodka plant in Latvia. The distillery feed stock is made from fermented grain, possibly distilled once or twice. At the plant in Latvia the REAL distillation process and filtering takes place, then the Latvian water is added to produce the final 80 proof product.

That’s good enough for me. Stolichnaya is a NATO friendly product. So unless BevMo and Raley’s decide that anything that sounds Russian must be gone from the shelves, I’m going to bring a bottle home. Or 2…