The Tippling Point | The clarity of vodka

It was a peaceful little world for vodka makers out there when a new player who had nothing to do with the spirit barged in like the proverbial bull in the china shop. Why shouldn't we try grapes for a change? The newcomer cheekily raised the question, throwing the whole vodka family into total confusion.

By demand, vodka is one of the most popular spirits in the world today. But how many of you know that it came from a murky past when people made it using myriad kinds of grain, potato, sugar beet, molasses, etc. Its impurities were so loud that its stench had to be masked with all sorts of herbs and fruits, whatever came in handy. But as time marched on, thanks to some advancements in technology and multiple distillings, the drink became clearer and clearer.

Now for almost a century, vodka is seen as the purest of all spirits, known for its clarity and its anathema towards sharp smells of biting flavours. While other spirits like whiskey and brandy absorb the taste of wood while sitting inside oak casks, vodka stays young, fresh, and clear without such elaborate processes. It comes straight from the pipe.

The only fuss it created was when two countries - Russia and Poland - claimed the lineage of the drink.

Virulently, they each brought to the table citations from their history books to prove their points. Couldn't they both use the name for a drink that was made in their villages even before the demarcation based on countries came into existence?

Well, that was the settlement they finally reached. Vodka could not be pinned down to a single country, they realized, it was a culinary culture. A traditional practice of a whole region running across the agricultural countries that lie to the northeast of Europe going as far as Scandinavia. Such countries - now known as the vodka-belt countries - pronounced that only a spirit made from cereal, potatoes, or molasses could be called vodka.

Just when they thought they had settled the dispute forever and fortified their ground, a maverick spirit brand by the name Ciroc walked into their kingdom in 2003. Announcing a new vodka made from grapes (which they believed would give the spirit a sweeter and smoother finish)!!!

Imagine the pandemonium it raised! The vodka-belt countries rose in protest, demanding that Ciroc give its spirit any other moniker but vodka.

"No!" they cried.

Ciroc was cool under the able leadership of its founder and master distiller Jean-Sebastien Robicquet. For generations, his family had been in the wine business and Robicquet was a wine pro with a degree in oenology, the study of wines. It was after years of deep study that he hit the market with this revolutionary drink that would redraw the destiny of vodka. He needn't have to look back, the moment spirit giant Diageo showed interest in his new product.

In every sense, Ciroc was a sophisticated vodka with both style and flavour. Flushing all traditions down the drain, Ciroc is built on grapes from the South of France. Unlike the usual practice, fruits are harvested during the winter season when they remain frozen on the vines. Other vodkas may compromise in production but not the one at Ciroc; it undergoes five distillations before the spirit ends up in the bottle. Well, that explains the tinge of citrus in your mouth and the clarity of its flavour.

In spite of the furor it caused in the vodka world, celebrities, especially the ones in the musical industry, enthusiastically began to line up for a taste of Ciroc. In a taste test organised by VinePair, Ciroc Snap Frost Grape came in second place.

It was Schnellbardt, a German politician who finally came forward with a proposal that would amicably settle the dispute over the naming of the spirit. He suggested that alcohol made from materials other than the traditional ingredients like cereal, molasses and potatoes should specifically mention in the label - "Vodka made from..."

Nothing now mattered for Ciroc.

But by the time it had left its impression in the spirit world with its phenomenal vodka, well... "made from grapes". It became unimaginable for a nightclub or bar without some form of Ciroc in their cabins. Meanwhile, Ciroc marched boldly into the flavoured vodka product, introducing more than a dozen varieties of vodka.

Today it offers something for every palate among the vodka aficionados.