What’s Your Drink?

Posted on February 17th, 2007 by Christopher.
Categories: Current Events & Politics.

Normally “what’s your drink?” suggests congenial hospitality, however in the European Union it has sparked an angry trade dispute that’s pitting country against country. Right now regional regulations state that vodka must be made from “agricultural products” and so it is: potatoes, grapes, grain, sugar, beets and other foods. Poland which produces 50 percent of the vodka in Europe says this definition is too broad. The Polish feel Vodka is a product of only grain, cereal or potatoes anything else is just not worthy of the name.

The European Commission is set to vote in March to decide whether 10 percent of Europes colorless liquor makers are victimizing consumers. Non-traditional producers insist that vodka derives its taste from the production process, not the raw materials, however the Polish clearly do not agree, arguing that consumers can clearly tell the difference.

However, inconveniently for Poland consumers don’t seem to know it. When Parliament held a blind taste test for its members in May, only one in 10 could identify the ingredients correctly. A study by the BBC in September found that testers were right only 15% of the time and a survy by the Vodka Alliance, found that in most European countries, the vast majority of drinkers described voka’s taste as “nothing” or “alcohol.”

There was one notable exception to this, in Poland, the most common response was “bad.”

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