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Poland and Hungary are quarrelling over the definition of vodka. For the Poles vodka is “an alcoholic beverage derived from cereals or potatoes.” Historically vodka is a colourless liquor made from grain. Traditionally it was made in Russia, the Ukraine, Poland and Scandinavia. However, the fact that potato vodka is also considered to be vodka, though potatoes were only introduced in these regions in the 18th century, indicates, according to some, that vodka can also be distilled from other products than grain or potatoes

27/02/2006 - 2:45:55 PM Smirnoff back in the family The story of Smirnoff vodka took a new twist today when it was re-united with the name of the legendary Smirnov family after a gap of nearly 90 years. Drinks giant Diageo has signed a joint venture with the maker of Smirnov, which uses original recipes created by imperial vodka supplier Pyotr Smirnov, who died in 1898. The split happened when one of Pyotr’s sons – Vladimir Smirnov – fled Russia following the Soviet revolution. He established Smirnoff in Paris using the Francophone spelling of his name and the business developed...

High-end vodka is keeping spirits up By Nora FitzGerald International Herald Tribune FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2006 MOSCOW People thought it couldn't be done. The idea of renting Liberty Island in New York Harbor for a bling and borscht party to introduce a Russian vodka seemed too absurd. But Roustam Tariko, 44, a Russian tycoon who made his initial fortune in importing and banking, not only got permission, he also spent more than $3 million, inviting more than 1,000 people to the September event and feeding them Beluga caviar, blinis, quail eggs and, of course, red borscht - all washed down...

MOSCOW, Russia (Reuters) -- Russians could suffer a shortage of their national tipple next week because a bureaucratic mix-up has brought every vodka distillery in the country to a halt, producers say. Distillers have been waiting since January 1 for tax authorities to send them new excise stamps -- the anti-counterfeit stickers that by law must be attached to every bottle of vodka. "We are selling vodka left over from last year but those stocks are getting smaller all the time," said Vera Bragina, a spokeswoman for Russia's Smirnov Trading House. "The situation is pretty much under control but if...

Get ready for the next Russian revolution Drinkers unite! Bureaucratic snafu may cut off supply of vodka Updated: 4:20 p.m. ET Feb. 3, 2006 MOSCOW - Russians could suffer a shortage of their national tipple next week because a bureaucratic mix-up has brought every vodka distillery in the country to a halt, producers said Friday. Distillers have been waiting since Jan. 1 for tax authorities to send them new excise stamps — the anti-counterfeit stickers that by law must be attached to every bottle of vodka. “We are selling vodka left over from last year, but those stocks are getting...

RETIRED Russian president Boris Yeltsin will celebrate his 75th birthday today at a Kremlin function expected to include former US and German leaders Bill Clinton and Helmut Kohl. Yeltsin, who received messages of congratulations from Russian Patriarch Alexy II and Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov, spoke again before the occasion of his hopes as he steered Russia out of the Soviet era. "I wanted people to become free and happy," the ex-president said. Born in Siberia in 1931, Mr Yeltsin dissolved the Soviet Union in 1991 and founded modern Russia. But most Russians still view his presidency in a negative light,...

Indian elephants preparing to perform in the Mongolian capital of Ulan Bator are drinking daily doses of vodka to help them survive temperatures as low as minus 28 degrees Celsius, a media report said. The elephants are working for the Moscow State Circus, which on Sunday plans to hold its first show in Mongolia in 25 years, the UB Post newspaper said in a report posted on its website. The elephants had to travel on trucks from Moscow to Ulan Bator because they were too large to be transported by rail with the rest of the circus. To help the...

This old chestnut has been doing the rounds of the Net for some time and in places it is showing its age. We have taken the liberty of adding a few glosses (for which we asked a furriner who's been here over 20 years and is therefore probably guilty of most of the behaviour being lampooned). 1. You rummage through your plastic bag collection to see which ones you should keep to take to the store and which can be sacrificed to garbage. Apparently the plastic bags - formerly free, now costing about EUR 0.10-0.15 - supplied by Finnish shopkeepers...

Beer is set to outstrip vodka as Russia's favourite tipple, sparking an identity crisis for a nation torn between the heavy-spirited alcoholism of the past and the new wealthy generation's penchant for tanning salons, oxygen bars and gyms ------------------------------------------------------ Beer is set to outstrip vodka as Russia's favourite tipple, sparking an identity crisis for a nation torn between the heavy-spirited alcoholism of the past and the new wealthy generation's penchant for tanning salons, oxygen bars and gyms. The sea change in Russian drinking habits has led many to believe Russia is slowly losing its penchant for excess as softer alcohol...

The large quantity of junior doctors' working hours, equating the effect of long shifts to drinking a few cocktails, study says. US researchers found 90-hour weeks impaired performance in the same way as alcohol. UK doctors now work 56-hour weeks but, in the past, working weeks of up to 90 hours were common. The Journal of the American Medical Association study said it was important to ensure doctors had adequate rest. It is known that both sleep deprivation and alcohol consumption can impair a person's reaction time, attention, judgment, control and driving ability, reports BBC. According to Reuters, a survey...

The collapse of the Soviet Union was accompanied by a demographic crisis in Russia when birth rates plummeted and death rates skyrocketed. Fertility fell from 2.0 to 1.3 children per woman while the death rate grew from 10.4 deaths per 1,000 people in 1986 to 15.7 in 1994, a catastrophic and abnormal level. By June 2005, there were 16.9 deaths per 1,000 people, a mortality rate found only in African countries suffering from the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Several hypothetical causes of these abnormally high death rates in Russia have been suggested recently by academics and discussed widely in the media. One...

Since the Soviet Union's collapse, hundreds of little-known brands of vodka - Russia's favourite tipple - appeared to meet a $9bn a year market. But analysts believe a quarter of that total is illegal low-quality vodka. Mr Putin said poor quality alcohol was contributing to the deaths of some 40,000 Russians each year. Crime gang-controlled More than 13,000 people died of "accidental alcohol poisoning" in the first four months of this year alone, the AFP news agency reported. Organised crime groups are suspected of being behind a lot of bootlegged poor quality vodka, which is often made from industrial alcohol....

A Russian man who woke up with a splitting headache after a heavy drinking session found a kitchen knife stuck in his face. Artur Dzhavanyan had invited a pal round for a drink but went to bed early after telling his friend he was fed up with hearing him moan. He woke up in the night with a splitting headache and went to the bathroom to get a glass of water, when he noticed the knife sticking out of his face, just below his eye.

  March 23, 2005Ted Kennedy Fights Removal of Feeding Tube WASHINGTON, DC --- Ted Kennedy, who was recently declared brain-dead by his physician, is fighting for his life.  The Senator's family is trying to have his feeding tube removed to allow him to die a sober death.  The tube, attached to a bottle of vodka and a bottle of gin, has been utilized by the senator for his entire adult life.  Medical experts believe removal will almost certainly result in death. "This is a very complex situation," said one medical expert.  "Senator Kennedy appears to be functioning normally to many...

Career bootlegger calls it quitsA Norwegian man who has spent the past 30 years producing and importing illegal liquor says his career is over. Erik Fallo also admitted partial guilt in a recent smuggling case, but denies responsibility for some bad brew that killed several of its consumers.Prosecutors claim at least seven people died painful deaths after drinking liquor that Fallo smuggled to Norway from Portugal. The liquor contained methanol, which allowed for cheaper production but had fatal consequences.Fallo is on trial along with 76-year-old Per Erik Fossum, who's also charged in the fatal smuggling case. The court has set...

A British vodka named after the inventor of the AK47 assault rifle has come under fire. Drinks rivals reckon the name suggests violence. Kalashnikov Vodka was launched in September with the backing of 84-year-old Gen. Mikhail Kalashnikov, creator of the rifle that bears his name. It is distilled in St. Petersburg, Russia, and imported to England by a British company, The Kalashnikov Joint Stock Vodka Co. (1947) PLC. Bottles of the product bear the Russian general's photo, and no image of the AK47. The Portman Group, a body representing major drinks companies including Allied Domecq, Diageo and Interbrew, said the...

Dr. Jack Wheeler, creator of a unique intelligence website dubbed "the oasis for rational conservatives," shares how a gift of vodka and a little ingenuity helped Ukraine's Orange Revolution succeed, bringing the former Russian satellite onto President Bush's list of new democracies. On his website, To the Point, Wheeler begins his column with a defense of the president's inaugural address and his call for peace through freedom, explaining the principle of "democratic pacifism." "If two countries are real democracies, the odds of them going to war against each other are small, very small," Wheeler explains. "History gives no guarantees for...

learn, via a Los Angeles Times article, of a recently-established magazine calling itself Modern Drunkard, dedicated to heavy drinkers and heavy drinking. My initial response was a chuckle and the assumption it was some kind of satirical parody. But sure enough, it has a website, and may even have the circulation of 50,00 which it claims. Although I am in the wine business as a part-timer, I do not find the excessive consumption of alcohol to be an attractive practice - for myself or others. Drunks lose control, and it isn't pretty. Many of those controls (inhibitions, if you will)...

Can somebody help me find that pic of Teresa Heinz knocking back a few beers that was posted on Drudge a couple days ago?

HOUSTON -- Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry would appoint Supreme Court justices who would safeguard a half-century of civil rights gains, his wife said Friday. "Fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, we are reminded now more than ever that we need a Supreme Court to protect our hard-won victories," Teresa Heinz Kerry told the Pennsylvania State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. "John Kerry will appoint judges that interpret our Constitution and don't go there for political reasons to divide our country," she added during a 20-minute prepared speech. The NAACP had invited...

06 October 2004 Original Title:Here's to an economic upsurge! (Graph title) How much alcohol is consumed in Russia - from January to August in millions of decaliters. Vodka Wine Cognac Beer) It has been noted: American 'John' is well-fed and is watching his health, so he only drinks whisky on holidays. Russian 'Ivan', however, lives in the cold and is used to warming his grief with vodka. The only thing that can save Ivan - is a good life. But statistics indicate the reverse. The nation's economy has grown non-stop over the last five years, but people are drinking...

Original Title:Two bottles of 'Talas' for some historySome scraps of an old Japanese newspaper were found in the ruins of the old summer theater All week long correspondents from 'Noviy Vestnik' searched for this ancient newspaper, which was left here by Japanese prisoners of war more than a half-century ago. We were told that the papers were found by workers in the 13th precinct, who were working on the demolition of the old summer theater. When the stage was torn apart, stuck to a support beam was a yellowing scrap of paper, speckled with incomprehensible hieroglyphics. Covered in lime and...

FREEPORT, Maine - A farmer looking to add value to his low-priced potato crop has launched a business partnership in hopes of turning humble Maine spuds into high-priced premium vodka. aine Distilleries Inc. plans to trade on the state's image of pristine water and traditional New England farms as it creates a niche product to compete with the Grey Gooses and Belvederes of the world. It'll be produced in small batches, much like microbreweries that produce specialized beers, said Don Thibodeau, who is in now in the midst of his fall harvest of 525 acres of potatoes in Fryeburg. "This...

Russia's renown for alcohol abuse is greater than ever-- now even kids are knocking 'em back, MARK MacKINNON reports. With a Canadian-backed treatment centre admitting children as young as 8, public officials blame more than the great vodka tradition. Those beer ads work a little too well There's not much to see out the window on the train to Petushki, just endless rows of grey apartment blocks as the suburbs of Moscow roll by, and factories that are out of date, if not falling apart. Few riding the rails on a Thursday afternoon seem to notice. As the crowded electric...

Winner Dies in Russian "Vodka Marathon" Nov. 19, 2003 — The alcohol-hardened winner of a vodka drinking marathon in southwest Russia outpaced all his rivals, but failed to collect his prize of ten bottles of the prized spirit — after dying on the spot, ITAR-TASS reported. The other five competitors ended up in emergency care in hospital, and prosecutors in the city of Volgodonsk have filed charges of involuntary homicide against the organizers of the weekend drinking contest, the news agency added. The participants of the event, which took place in a bar, were invited to down half-liter glasses of...

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A vodka-drinking competition in a southern Russian town ended in tragedy with the winner dead and several runners-up in intensive care. "The competition lasted 30, perhaps 40 minutes and the winner downed three half-liter bottles. He was taken home by taxi but died within 20 minutes," said Roman Popov, a prosecutor pursuing the case in the town of Volgodonsk. "Five contestants ended up in intensive care. Those not in hospital turned up the next day, ostensibly for another drink." Popov said the director of the shop organizing this month's contest had been charged with manslaughter. He had...

BENSON, Minn. (AP) - Upscale vodkas like Absolut and Skyy are getting some competition from an unexpected corner of the world, the western Minnesota prairie. Shakers Original American Vodka, made from homegrown wheat and distilled by a farmer-owned cooperative, was introduced here in late February. In the first month, Minnesotans bought up 500 cases of Shakers, as much as its creators expected to sell in the first year. Within months, it was the top seller in the state among vodkas priced over $30. "We just had no idea the level of pride that people in Minnesota would take in this...

Would you cast Liza Minnelli as Superwoman? More to the point, as a wildly drunk and vicious Superwoman? Her estranged husband, David Gest, insists it's a role she played during their 16-month marriage. He filed a $10 million suit Tuesday claiming she drew super strength from vodka, drinking up to a quart at a time and beating him as he pleaded with her to stop. Perhaps that was Krypton Vodka? Or, at least, Ephedra Enhanced Vodka? Gest, 50, who has reportedly checked into a rehabilitation center in Hawaii to recover from his injuries, didn't say. But Dr. Barbara Krantz, medical...

<p>MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev tried to ban it, his successor Boris Yeltsin drank as much of it as he could while current president Vladimir Putin prefers green tea.</p> <p>Vodka, the famous Russian drink, is celebrating 500 years since it was first distilled by monks.</p>

A group of friends in Russia tries out a new invention — the talking vodka bottle. (ABCNEWS.com) When you open the bottle, the cap starts talking. It starts with practical instructions like "Pour," then, as the evening progresses, it produces an increasingly drunken mixture of shrieks, giggles and sound effects. "It starts out with one persona — the electronic vodka genie," inventor Dmitri Zhurin told the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda. "As the drinking progresses, he is joined by women, who start to laugh and shriek." The talking bottle cap looks just like a regular one. But packed inside are batteries, a...

Legislation would increase state liquor prices The Associated Press LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Michigan liquor drinkers could pay higher prices at the bar or party store under legislation aimed at improving fire protection in certain cities. State Rep. Gretchen Whitmer, D-East Lansing, plans to introduce legislation that would increase the state markup on liquor for the first time in 10 years, the Lansing State Journal reported Wednesday. The plan would raise the markup from 65 percent to 74 percent and generate about $12.1 million. The money would go to cities such as Lansing and East Lansing that have large numbers...

St. Petersburg, Russia — Anatoly Litun pours two ice-cold shots of vodka, then launches into a tale. He was a young man, many years ago, and a sailor at the time. A shipmate, the cook to be precise, was celebrating his birthday and invited Mr. Litun to join in a toast with a round of Russia's national drink. After they downed their glasses, Mr. Litun asked the cook how old he was. He was surprised at the alleged birthday boy's answer. "I am now 30 years, two months and three days," the cook told him. Mr. Litun, now a bartender...

Scientists say vodka will ward off Sars Russian scientists claim to have come up with a novel way of warding off Sars - a double shot of vodka.Experts from the Medical Academy, in Moscow, believe the worldwide commotion over the virus is over-exaggerated. Leading scientist Anatoli Vorobijev, from the department of microbiology and immunology, says the daily consumption of 10 centilitres of vodka should be enough to ward off the life-threatening epidemic. Mr Vorobijev said the atypical pneumonia was "nothing special". He said the flu virus took more lives than Sars and the death toll from normal pneumonia was about...

An enzyme-catalysed battery has been created that could one day run cell phones and laptop computers on shots of vodka. The key to the device is a new polymer that protects the fragile enzymes used to break down the ethanol fuel, scientists told the American Chemical Society's annual meeting in New Orleans on Monday. Enzyme-based batteries have the potential to be cheaper than fuel cells that rely on expensive platinum or ruthenium catalysts. "It sounds great," says Bob Hockaday, founder of the company Energy Related Devices and designer of a methanol-powered battery. "Enzymes are inexpensive and catalytically very active." Fuel...

GRAIN sent from the European Union to feed the hungry in Russia was diverted into vodka production in a multi-million-pound fraud, a Brussels audit has revealed. The study of a £264m programme to distribute some of the EU’s food mountains among Russia’s needy also found that 600 truckloads of refrigerated beef had “disappeared” after leaving cold stores in St Petersburg. The conclusions have raised fears that millions of pounds may have ended up in the pockets of mafia bosses. A dossier drawn up by accountancy firm HLB International coincides with the annual report of the EU Court of Auditors, which...

The state is recovering the people’s property. Moreover, the state is recovering the monopoly it once had on the production of Russia’s all-time favorite beverage: vodka.

Vice-speaker of the Russian parliament Vladimir Zhirinovsky is to visit the USA once again; as usual, the objective of his visit is special. The vice-speaker says that he has offered to meet with representatives of the US presidential administration and the US department of state, as well as with the CIA deputy director and deputy minister for Domestic Security to discuss Afghanistan, Iran, and Iraq. Although the Russian deputy knows little about the life of average Americans, he has a clear idea of the life of Russians in the USA. Moreover, he has plans to protect their interests in America.

<p>ALISO VIEJO, Calif. (AP) --  An unidentified fluid leaked from a package in an Orange County office building Monday morning, with intoxicating results.</p> <p>At least four workers felt ill after breathing the fumes. The building was quickly evacuated and an Orange County Fire Department Hazardous Waste team was dispatched.</p>

U.S. Busts Vodka Smugglers By William K. Rashbaum August 22, 2000 NEW YORK - Over the last two years, a federal investigation into Russian and Italian organized crime in the ports of Newark and Elizabeth, New Jersey, turned up the expected mix of mundane mob staples: extortion, cigarette smuggling, money laundering. But federal agents said they also came across a bit of criminal enterprise that for pure creative corruption struck them as remarkable: loose-knit web of companies was smuggling tens of millions of gallons of American-made grain alcohol - including some from one of the country's oldest distilleries -...