Vodka

Bloody Mary trio with celery stick garnish.

Vodka is a distilled beverage. It is a clear liquid consisting mostly of water and ethanol purified by distillation—often multiple distillation—from a fermented substance, such as grain, potatoes or sugar beet molasses. An insignificant amount of other substances such as flavoring is also commonly added.

Vodka usually has an alcohol content of 35% to 50% by volume. The classic Russian, Lithuanian and Polish vodkas are 40% (80 proof). According to the Vodka Museum in Moscow, Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev found the perfect percentage to be 38%. However, since spirits in his time were taxed on their strength, the percentage was rounded up to 40 to simplify the tax computation.