Vice travels to the front lines of the Vodka Wars and discovers that the checkered history of Russian-Polish relations can be preserved in a bottle.
In the autumn of 1977, Poland and Russia started a trade war over the rights to produce vodka. This is the first official attempt by Poland to claim the drink, but it won’t be the last. This is the story of the vodka wars.
Vice went to the Russian Vodka Museum where they celebrated the 500th anniversary of Russian vodka. Once they entered the museum, they were trapped in a screening room where the host showed them the history of Russia over a shot of vodka.
The museum shines a bit on evidence about the origins of vodka in Russia. But it’s not just about vodka. It’s about Russian nationalism. Like oil and gas, vodka is just another commodity that can be traded for electricity. To truly understand the vodka wars, we must understand who we are dealing with.
