Charlie Knows Best: Vodka

Vodka is considered to be the purest alcoholic drink there is. Due to the distilling process, vodka is cleaned and basically made of ethanol and water. If anything, the name “vodka” pretty much translates to “water” in Russian (“voda” means “water” and adding the suffix “ka” translates it to “little water.”)

This spirit has many uses. Originally, it was used medicinally. It can disinfect wounds, treat poison ivy, be used to clean, can be used to make aftershave, and more.

After the arrival of distillation pots around the 9th century, people were given the ability to create powerful spirits. The first recorded mention of the word vodka comes from the 9th century, and the first distillery was formed almost two hundred years later in 1174.

During the last one hundred years, vodka remained the absolute most popular drink in Russia, and since the 1950s, its popularity greatly rose worldwide. Few factors that contributed to the vodka's success were its neutrality, ability to be mixed into many popular cocktails, lack of flavor in drinker's breath, and big marketing campaign that promoted it across entire world (most notably in James Bond movies).

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Fun Fact: If you have accidentally consumed antifreeze, vodka can be used as an antidote. But there's an even better antidote: don't drink antifreeze!