Traditionally distilled from grains, potatoes, or sugar-beet molasses (and nowadays almost any plant matter under the sun), clear vodka has eclipsed gin in cocktail after cocktail. Vodka’s purity—no aroma, little taste—makes it the perfect foil for liqueurs and other tools of the bartender’s trade.
It is believed that vodka originated in Russia in the fourteenth century and quickly spread to the Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, Poland, and Scandinavia. Flavored vodkas eventually emerged with the simple addition of medicinal herbs or taste-enhancing fruits and spices—a far cry from some of the out-there vodka flavorings seen today (see A Word from the Bartenders).