Polugar Rye & Wheat Breadwine

Polugar is an example of old-style vodka making and this is an exacting recreation of the eponymous spirit. Centuries ago, Polugar was made at home by families across Russia and drunk with meals. Flavored varieties complemented specific dishes and endless combinations of herbs and spices were used to impart a unique taste. Distillation became a state-controlled enterprise in 1895, essentially ending the local, homespun production of this once ubiquitous drink. Polugar means bread wine, and in many ways it is the essence of bread. Life of the spirit begins as a mash of flavorful rye grain, fermented, and run through a vintage copper alembic still. Polugar is characterized by its rich texture, the result of a third distillation before which the spirit is clarified with fresh chicken egg whites and delicately filtered through birch charcoal. The ABV following this laborious distillation is consistently 38.5%. Hundreds of years ago the result was the same.