Text by Michelle Smith

When looking at the history of vodka in Poland, it's important to note that its roots and origins are the source of great controversy between two old – and quite recent again – foes: Poland and Russia. Both claim to have been the birthplace of vodka – and both make a pretty strong case. In actual fact, extensive research by alcohol buffs, vodka fans, Slavophiles and historians turn up no conclusive evidence either way...so the genesis of the colourless liquor made from various grains such as barley, rye, or corn, is shrouded in mystery.

Mysterious past

What is known is that the pure version of the clean spirit, containing 100% alcohol, made its way from the Arabs or the Italians (who called it aqua vitae, 'the water of life') around the 9th century. It was credited at the time with powerful medical assets, being an effective antiseptic and trusty anesthetic potion, as well as a reliable fluid for cleaning cutlery and jewellery and curing foot odor. With the advent of distilling technology, sometime in the beginning of the 15th century, aqua vitae was purified to create a softer version suitable for consumption. The problem is that the Poles lay claim to first using the distilling process, while the Russians believe it was their big eureka-idea to take the edge off the vile spirit. Historians have no hard evidence to prove either country right or wrong, so for now, the truth is still out there.

What is also known is that in Poland, the first viable record of vodka appeared in 1405, in the small royal town of Sandomierz. Grain-based vodka production began in small quantities on a city-by-city basis, but by the end of the 16th century, the nation's taste for the spirit was well-whetted. With the heartfelt endorsement of King Jan Olbrach, the distillery process started up on a vast scale, especially in and around the southern Polish city of Kraków and the Wielkopolska town of Poznań, which had a total of 498 functioning 'spirit boilers' by 1580. Vodka production soon became a high-profit venture which not only led to the country's first taxing fees 'for cooking spirits in the villages' but also large-scale exports to Denmark, Germany, England, Austria, Hungary, Ukraine and the Netherlands.

Poland continued to be swept by vodka-fever in the following centuries as technological advances allowed the creation of higher purity and higher alcohol content through multiple distillations, and potatoes superseded grains like rye , making vodka production even more profitable. The Soviet-inflicted prohibition-like period of the late-20th century led to the creations of several moonshine alcohols, but vodka remained a national staple. Today, vodka still reigns supreme on the local liquor landscape, accounting for over 90% of the spirits market consumption. Aside from Russians and other Central European countries, Poles knock back the most vodka in the world: over 260 million litres each year. In a nation of 38 million, that's a little over 10 litres per person of legal age.

Vodka was late in leaving Eastern Europe and Northern Europe: the vodka phenomenon spread like wildfire across the Western world, first entering the massive American market in the 1940s, through the astute marketing of the once Russian, now British-owned Smirnoff brand. As a colourless and odorless drink (advertised by Smirnoff as 'White Whiskey – No taste. No smell'), vodka first became popular for its neutral flavour and good mixer properties, playing well with virtually every available alcohol and juice. By the 60s and 70s the Western vodka-drinking culture, led by the ever-increasing cocktail craze, fueled the demand for affordable, medium- to low-quality, vodka brands.

Jumping on the lucrative bandwagon, liquor producing companies across Europe began flooding the market with new varieties of tasteless, mediocre vodkas. This commercialisation of the spirit inevitably led to the so-called 'European Vodka Wars' of 2006, in which traditional vodka-making countries – such as Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Lithuania and Estonia - requested that the European Union to make a clear-cut definition of which hard liquors could actually be called 'vodka'. These 'vodka purist' nations wanted a definition that would limit the 'vodka' brand to an 'alcoholic beverage derived from cereals or potatoes', while the 'vodka liberalisers' (a group that included France, Austria, Great Britain and the Netherlands) fought for a more liberal definition, which took in ingredients such as beets, grapes, citrus fruits and molasses. A serious blow to vodka purists, the EU ruling stated that vodka can be made from any ingredient, as long as the bottle clearly labels all elements used.

Not to be left behind or threatened by the ever-growing vodka market, established Polish favourites such as Belvedere, Chopin and Wyborowa made the conscious decision to redefine their local and international images as authentic, elegant and luxurious brands with an age-old heritage; their aim was to not be confused with brands they thought of as cheap vodka imitators – they were determined to be seen as the 'real thing'. By showing the spirit's stylish and swankier side, these brands not only spearheaded the premium vodka category (the fastest growing segment of the hard liquor market), but also reestablished the prestige of Polish vodkas.

Prestigious Belvedere

Today, Belvedere is one of Poland's most luxurious brands of vodka, and it is world-renowned. Named after the Belvedere Palace - formerly home to Polish royalty - it is simultaneously steeped in history, yet evokes modernity and innovation,.What sets it apart from other vodkas is its distillation process: it is distilled from a single type of grain, the Dakowskie Gold rye grain, only organically-farmed potatoes are used and Belvedere is distilled four times, the optimum number for enhancing its unique, subtle character. This is the surest sign of its quality, and Belvedere's producers claim that it makes their vodka silkier: the company's features Belvedere's taste profile as 'a subtle sweetness with a smooth, clean finish'. The company also points out that Belvedere has a longer distillation process than most other vodkas, and the product is therefore promoted as being 'much smoother' as a result. And when we are talking about discriminating consumers, things like smooth luxury matter.

Belvedere vodka hails from the small town of Żyrardów, set in the Mazovian plains, just west of Warsaw. It originated 600 years ago, and over this course of time, the practices and methods of producing the vodka have evolved and been perfected. Belvedere is handcrafted in small batches to ensure superior quality, with the product undergoing rigorous testing as it is produced. If a taste sampling shows even a hint of imbalance or imperfection, the entire batch is destroyed. Initially only distilled in Żyardów, today Belvedere vodka is made under license by numerous distilleries and is then exported throughout the world. But there was a time when it was difficult to find it outside of Poland proper – in fact, there was a time when the term 'luxury vodka' was a misnomer.

It was not until 1996 that the Millennium Import Company introduced Belvedere Vodka to the United States marketplace. One year later marked the debut of Chopin Polish luxury vodka, which together with Belvedere, officially established the luxury vodka segment by pricing it at twice the cost of other upmarket vodkas. It was the first time that vodka was sold at a price point near $30 per 750 ml bottle, in the same price range of sassy Johnny Walker Black and classy Hennessy cognac. Although it was deemed a huge risk at the time – since vodka's dodgy reputation most definitely preceded it – Millennium was determined to go ahead. And the gamble paid off handsomely.

As the Millennium Import Company's PR material says, 'In the early 1990s, every major segment of the U.S. distilled spirits market offered luxury brands, with the curious exception of the largest overall segment - vodka. A fourth-generation leader of Phillips Beverage Company (founded in 1912), Edward Jay Phillips recognised an opportunity to fulfill the needs of discerning vodka enthusiasts. In 1994, he formed the Millennium Import Company with a single mission: find a vodka worthy of luxury status, one that would meet the highest standards of vodka connoisseurs everywhere. To meet this challenge, Millennium conducted an exhaustive global search which ended up in Poland, where two vodkas worthy of luxury status were at last discovered: Belvedere and Chopin.'

In 1999, not content with providing the pure stuff only, Millennium started exploring ways to create a luxury flavoured vodka. Millennium set a mandate for itself and Belvedere - to redefine flavoured vodka the way it revolutionised the vodka category. As Millennium's promotional package says, 'We were insistent that we could create flavoured vodkas that had the craftsmanship, authenticity, attention to quality, beautiful packaging and rich heritage of Belvedere Vodka.'

After an extended search, Millennium found Elie-Arnaud Denoix, the descendant of a long line of French flavour experts and a man with many years of experience in creating fruit, herb and spice infusions with alcohols. After several starts and stops, Denoix helped to produce Belvedere Cytrus (with lemon) and Belvedere Pomarańcza (with orange). They are the first flavoured vodkas that fuse pure luxury vodka with the essence of real fruit.

'Luxury Reborn'

As mentioned, at first Chopin and Belvedere were marketed together; but after about a decade, they went on different marketing and consumer roads. Chopin decided to focus on the middle-aged consumer, the professional businessperson, the educated professional, whilst Belvedere took aim at the young, the hip and high-profile celebrities. Its most recent promotion and advertising campaign, 'Luxury Reborn', illustrates this perfectly.

Launched this past spring, 'Luxury Reborn', has been called many things in the press: hot, sexy, outrageous, exciting. And expensive. Controversial and provocative avant-garde photographer Terry Richardson was hired to shoot and direct the entire ad campaign. Richardson is an ex-punk rocker turned fashion-photographer-extraordinaire who has taken photos of an impressive list of people including Daniel Day Lewis, Faye Dunaway, Leonardo DiCaprio, Vincent Gallo, Tom Ford, Marc Jacobs, Sharon Stone, Mickey Rourke and Jay Z. Richardson on his own was not particularly cheap, and his style of working and his vision for the campaign were extravagent. He wanted the ads – both print and television – to feature gorgeous and high-profile people partying and drinking Belvedere in some of the world's most exclusive clubs. His goal was to emphasise the energetic, spicy, fiery vibe of the vodka and cement its image as the 'hot young thing's drink of choice'. The end result was that under his artistic direction the campaign became the most expensive in Belvedere history, costing a cool $20 million, more than triple the cost of the 2006 campaign...but his captured images are also undeniably sexy while still being surprisingly chic and with an underlying sense of humour and fun.

Despite the cost, Belvedere and the media chose to focus on what was termed a major coup in terms of the advertising campaign: the participation of Jade Jagger (yes, Mick's daughter!). Jagger is well-known in the UK and Europe as an artist, creative director and visionary jeweler, and today acts as the Creative Director at Garrard, the Royal jewelers. Her dramatic and stunning offering to the campaign was the 'Jagger Dagger'. The dagger is actually an ice pick which boasts an 18-carat white gold hilt studded with 12 carats of brilliant-cut diamonds, 42 stunning pieces of pale sapphire and is inlaid with a central blue lapis lazuli square sitting above the blade. The Jagger Dagger's handle is bound with a twisted thread of white gold and crowned with a giant moonstone and lapis lazuli bead. A limited number of the ice daggers have been created (each with a retail value exceeding $250,000) and are sold at a select number of world-famous retailers, including Harrods in London. For people who wish to have one but cannot afford the price tag, a range of identical-looking daggers-studded with 12 carats of white topaz and 42 pieces of aquamarine are available – and for a more affordable (for some) price of only $10,000 each.

Based on this campaign and Belvedere's most recent exclusive product (Belvedere Intense; see the box below) there should be no doubt in anyone's mind that the former image of vodka as a low-class alcohol whose sole purpose was to blow your head off has long perished. Belvedere's role in developing and changing the luxury vodka market is unchallenged - and the brand's success is undeniable.
www.belevedere-vodka.com

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