The internet is full of fabulous facts about everything from current events to the history basket weaving. As we research for our daily content on food trucks, food carts and street food, we stumble upon some items of knowledge that we just did not know.

We have decided when these fun facts pop up, that we would share them with our readers in our section titled “Did You Know?”

For today’s Did You Know we will look at Vodka Fun Facts

Vodka Fun Facts: Vodka is a distilled beverage composed primarily of water and ethanol, sometimes with traces of impurities and flavorings. Vodka is made by the distillation of fermented substances such as grains, potatoes, or sometimes fruits or sugar.Since vodka is distilled from water ethanol and fermented potatoes or grains, it contains very little fusel oils–much less than other alcoholic beverages. This coupled with the fact that it is carbon filtered, makes it one of the purest drinks in the world!

• As opposed to popular belief, vodka does go bad if stored for longer periods of time. Ideally, vodka has to be consumed within 12 months of the manufacturing date!
• Up until 1885, vodka was only sold in 12.3 litre buckets–and even still, it was a very popular drink. Thankfully, smaller bottles were introduced so that we don’t spend the early part of our work week coping with a massive hangover.
• October 4th is National Vodka Day.
• While traditional vodka has exactly 38 percent alcohol, the European Union recognizes any such drink with more than 37.5 percent alcohol content as vodka. On the other hand, all vodka sold in the United States has to have 40 percent or more alcohol content.
• Due to the high production and consumption of vodka in America, countries like Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, all Nordic and Baltic countries, Poland and  areas of Slovakia and Hungary, these regions constitute the Vodka Belt.
• While this drink is normally associated with Russian culture, the first version was actually brought to Russia by Italians early in the 15th century.
• The first variations of Russian vodka were meant for medicinal purposes. It is also reported that Polish vodka was scented and used as aftershave!
• According to some historic accounts, vodka was used to make gunpowder in Sweden in the 15th century!
• While clear vodka is very popular, its flavored versions are also widely available. Some of the best vodka flavors are red pepper, ginger, varying fruit flavors, vanilla, chocolate (unsweetened), and cinnamon.

Vodka Fun Facts We Missed

Let us know if we missed any vodka fun facts in the comment section below. If we can verify that the facts is just that, a fact, we will give the reader credit in the article.

Reference: Wikipedia: Fun Facts about  Vodka.