POLUGAR №1 (Rye & Wheat)

Polugar №1 is a revived historic Russian breadwine — the progenitor of modern vodka. The production of Polugar №1 was stopped in 1895. In the Russian Empire, breadwine was the name for a grain distillate, which was a strong alcoholic drink produced by means of distillation in copper pot stills.  At the time, rectification of pure ethyl spirit had not yet been invented, and this drink carefully preserved the flavor and aroma of its raw materials – rye and wheat.

Thanks to the historian of Russian vodka, writer and scientist Boris Rodionov, the recipe and technology of traditional distillation and refining used in the 19th century has been recreated from ancient books. The private family distillery, Rodionov and Sons, revived the tradition of classical Russian distillation, having legally produced a numbered series of bottles of traditional Polugar №1 for the first time in 120 years. Selected rye and wheat are used to make a home brew, which is then triple-distilled in a copper pot still recreated from old drawings. The precious distillate then undergoes thorough refining using natural birch charcoal.

Aroma: bready aroma of home baking.

Taste: delicate, slightly sweetish, warming soft taste of rye and wheat bread, crackers and bread crust with bread-honey notes.

Aftertaste: long-lasting, dominated by hints of wheat bread, with notes of grains, meadow grasses, warm home baking, fresh hay and warm bread crumb.

Recommendations: borscht, day-long cabbage soup, pickle soup, ukha, olivier salad, meat pie, bliny with caviar, chicken Kiev, beef stroganoff, shashlik, marrow, gratins, side of mutton with buckwheat groats, game, pilaf, grilled hunter's sausage, fish pirozhki.