Vodka usually has an alcohol content of 35% to 50% by volume. The classic Polish, Lithuanian and Russian vodka is 40% (80 proof). This can be attributed to the Russian standards for vodka production introduced in 1894.
At strengths less than 40%, Vodka drunk neat (without ice and not mixed with other liquids) can taste "watery": above this strength, the taste of Vodka can have more "burn". Some governments set a minimum alcohol content for a spirit to be called "Vodka".
For example, the European Union sets a minimum of 37.5% alcohol by volume.
Although vodka is traditionally drunk neat in the Eastern European and Nordic countries of the "Vodka Belt", its popularity elsewhere owes much to its usefulness in cocktails and other mixed drinks, such as the Bloody Mary, the Screwdriver, the vodka tonic, vodka martini, and most recently vodka red bull.
"Vodka" is a diminutive of the Slavic word woda/voda standing for water.
The word is found for the first time in the court documents from the Palatinate of Sandomierz in Poland dating to 1405 and 1537. At these times the word referred to medicines and cosmetics.
A number of Russian pharmaceutical lists contain the terms "vodka of bread wine" (водка хлебного вина vodka khlebnogo vina ) and "vodka in half of bread wine" (водка полу хлебного вина vodka polu khlebnogo vina ). As alcohol had long been used as a basis for medicines, this implies that the term vodka could be a noun derived from the verb vodit’ , razvodit’ (водить, разводить), "to dilute with water".
Apart from the alcoholic content, vodkas may be classified into two main groups: clear vodkas and flavoured vodkas . From the latter ones, one can separate bitter tinctures , such as Russian Yubileynaya (anniversary vodka) and Pertsovka (pepper vodka).
While most vodkas are unflavoured, many flavoured vodkas have been produced in traditional vodka-drinking areas, often as home-made recipes to improve vodka's taste or for medicinal purposes. Flavourings include red pepper, ginger, fruit flavours, vanilla, chocolate (without sweetener), and cinnamon. Ukrainians produce a commercial vodka that includes St John's Wort. Poles and Belarusians add the leaves of the local bison grass to produce Żubrówka (Polish) and Zubrovka (Belarusian) vodka, with slightly sweet flavour and light amber colour. In Ukraine and Russia, vodka flavoured with honey and pepper ( Pertsovka , in Russian, Z pertsem , in Ukrainian) is also very popular. In Poland, a famous vodka containing honey is called Krupnik.
This tradition of flavouring is also prevalent in the Nordic countries, where vodka seasoned with herbs, fruits and spices is the appropriate strong drink for midsummer seasonal festivities. In Sweden, there are forty-odd common varieties of herb-flavoured vodka ( kryddat brännvin ). In Poland there is a separate category, nalewka, for vodka-based spirits with fruit, root, flower, or herb extracts, which are often home-made or produced by small commercial distilleries. Its alcohol content is between 15 to 75%.
The Finnish vodka "Finlandia" was the first vodka company to mass produce flavoured Vodka.
The Poles make a very pure (95%, 190 proof) rectified spirit (Polish language: spirytus rektyfikowany). Technically a form of vodka, it is sold in liquor stores, not pharmacies. Similarly, the German market often carries German, Hungarian, Polish, and Ukrainian-made varieties of vodka of 90 to 95% alcohol content. A Bulgarian vodka, Balkan 176°, is 88% alcohol.
Due to the low freezing point of alcohol, vodka can be stored in ice or a freezer without any crystallization of water. In countries where alcohol levels are generally low (the USA for example, due to alcohol taxes varying with alcohol content), individuals sometimes increase the alcohol percentage by a form of freeze distillation.
This is done by placing the vodka in an open vessel (bowl, etc) in the freezer, and then after it has reached a temperature below the freezing point of water, adding ice cubes, to which the free water within the vodka will crystallize, leaving a higher alcohol concentration behind.