Russian Culture Monday: Russian Vodka

Monday May 25, 2009

Vodka and Russian culture are inseparable. The preferred drink for making toasts, warming vocal cords, driving away winter's chill, and for washing down a hearty meal, vodka is ubiquitous: it features in in jokes and songs; it has been the downfall of fictional characters and historical personalities; exam failures, driving accidents, and brawls can be attributed to its potency; and, though readily available, it is often made cheaply from deadly dangerous ingredients.

Sampling Russian vodka may seem like a necessary component to Russia travel, but there are some things you should know about vodka and its role in Russian culture, first. While vodka is widely celebrated, vodka's connection to alcoholism is also recognized. If you've ever seen the Russian film Sibirskiy Tsiryulnik, you should be familiar with the scene in which General Radlov, pressured to drink vodka at Maslenitsa despite (or because of) his known alcohol problems, gets so drunk he eats his glass. Recovery comes with a dunk in an icy pond. This scene, though humorous, illustrates the power vodka can have over those who consume it to excess.