Contents

Title

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Part 1: The Drink of the Slavs

The Russian Story

Russian Daily Life in Vodka

The Official Birth of Vodka in 1894

Soviet Russia

Vodka in Poland and Ukraine

Part 2: Vodka in the West

Smirnoff to Absolut: The Vodka Houses

Vodka in the UK and the USA

James Bond and Films

Vodka Today

Part 3: Drinking and Preparing Vodka

The Pryzhov Test: A Tasting Guide

Preparing Vodka

Vodka Cocktails and Vodka Recipes

Vodka Drinking Vessels

Part 4: Literature, Music and Vodka

Russian Writers: Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and Pryzhov

Anton Chekhov

Texts

Vodka and Music

Appendix

How Smirnov became Smirnoff: A History of a Vodka Dynasty

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Copyright