First of all, my many sincere thanks to Jay at Oh Gosh! Who essentially co-wrote this post and has first-hand experience with Zubrowka in Poland that he was generous enough to share. If you haven’t visited his site yet, I highly recommend it. It’s attractive, informative, action-packed, and smells minty fresh with a hint of lemon zest.

Now, there is a whole byzantine backstory with Żubrówka and its brand, trade, and patent rights for export from the EU (what is the deal with vodka and trenchant legal issues? sheesh) which you can read about here, but that’s not nearly as much fun as discussing the spirit itself. Simply put, Żubrówka (roughly translated as ‘Bison Grass Vodka’) is a style of vodka, traditionally distilled from rye, that is infused with a tincture of bison grass found in the Białowieża Forest in eastern Poland and western Belarus (see fancy graphic at right). And technically, the use of this grass is the only method of creating a true Żubrówka vodka. Żubrówka came about during the 16^th century because Polish distillers had a rough time covering up some of the less pleasant qualities of their product, and much like the Pontiac Fiero, they dressed it up a bit with a flashy native tincture to make it palatable (or in the case of the Fiero, allowed owners to overlook their obvious draw to a death trap of an automobile). It first became massively popular for two reasons:

1. The Polish royalty loved this shit and would request in hunting lodges as they traveled throughout northeastern Poland. And, where the royalties’, or the rich’s, tastes go, so do the peasantry’s. (see: big stupid ridiculously oversized sunglasses on waifish girls for a recent development of this nature)
2. In the 17^th century, J.A. Baczewski Liquor and Liqueur Distillery first mass produced it. And Poland was thirsty.

So, what about today’s Żubrówka? Well, Żubrówka shares many things in common with Absinthe in that both come with a baggage train of myths, legends, and mystique of licentious nature. You see, Żubrówka, if made in the traditional method, contains coumarin, a food additive prohibited by the FDA for its potentially damaging effect on the kidneys and liver, though the conspiracy theorists among you might chalk that up to Żubrówka’s alleged hallucinogenic and aphrodisiac effects (and you might be right, and look out, they’re watching you!).

This means that the US-import version of Żubrówka, while still made in Poland, isn’t the real deal. The label reading ‘FD&C Yellow #5’ is the first clue that this is not your babcia’s Żubrówka, yo. And, apparently, the coumarin has been ‘neutralized’ in the US version; how that affects the taste or quality, I’m not sure. But, we simply must try, mustn’t we?

In Poland, Żubrówka is found listed on bar/restaurant menus and sidewalk menu chalkboards in a drink known, in a strange intersection of cultural touchpoints, as ‘tatanka’. Yes, that tatanka, the one with Kevin Costner loping about awkwardly with his hands on his head trying to communicate to the Native American Sioux he’s encountered that, hell I don’t know, that he’s a dorky-assed white man? In actuality he’s trying to convey ‘buffalo’ to the Sioux, and ‘tatanka’ is the Sioux word for it, but I like to think he’s sending two messages. He’s talented that way… In Polish, this ‘tatanka’ drink is referred to as szarlotka which is roughly means ‘apple pastry’, but either term will do in a pinch. This is the basic and traditional mixed drink using Żubrówka, a simple mixture of apple juice and chilled bison grass vodka. Sounds delightful. As for other methods, you can very often find men drinking their beloved native spirit neat. Given the rare use of apple juice in cocktails and that what I’d learned about Żubrówka, I was anxious and curious what this would be like. I couldn’t find any tried-and-true guides for what the ratio of Żubrówka to apple juice should be so I played it by ear, and quickly, by taste. So, let’s try it neat and then whip ourselves up a few szarlotkas.¹

Neat: This has a sweetness to it I wasn’t expecting and then LOADS of burn. I assume that’s what the apple juice and/or chilling is for…yikes. Once you get past that there is a definite herbal quality at work that is reminiscent of a sweet and very watered-down Chartreuse. The sweet that comes through is dominated by vanilla and there is a slightly earthy quality. All in all very enjoyable but I can heartily say that, if taken neat, it should be well-chilled.

Tatanka/Szarlotkas (‘Apple Pastry’)

• X pt Żubrówka
• X pt apple juice

Build in a rocks glass with ice and stir gently. 

Ok, 1:1 isn’t the right ratio. The vodka completely overpowers the drink (a phrase I never thought I’d use) and the apple juice just ends up a funky and tacky sweet flavor that doesn’t bring anything of value to the party. However, without going to a 2:1 straight-away I tried a 3:2 juice:vodka mix and it landed pretty nicely. The sweet from the vodka blends well with the apple juice’s tartish sweetness and the herbals of the vodka provide a nice counterbalance to the whole thing. It’s not something I’ll go to very often, but it’s unique, it’s refreshing, and it’s bright. I would recommend taking a more tart juice to this experiment should you try it at home; I feel it will make for a more complex and cleaner finishing drink. In fact, the Bak’s website lists a dash of lime juice in their tatanka and that would serve the same purpose and be a welcome addition to the drink. You’ll notice that the ‘Bak’s Bison Grass Vodka’ has a more distinctly green hue to it than Jay’s bottle higher up. That’s obviously the artificial coloring coming through and my instincts tell me that if at all possible, try to get a bottle from the EU from the Polmos Bialystok distillery. And once again, thanks Jay for your help and the photo.

For your continued pleasure:

http://thespiritworld.net/2006/08/30/thoughts_of_the_old_west_take_us_to_pola/

http://www.american.edu/TED/polish-vodka.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zubrowka

http://www.zubrowka.net/

1. again, thanks to Jay for most of the information in the last two paragraphs, well, except the part about Kevin Costner…that’s all on me [↩]