Re-introducing polugar, 'the father of vodka'

According to Alexey Rodionov, in Russia, before there was vodka as we now know it, there was polugar - and now it's back.

Polugar, which means "half burned", is another term for what the Russians used to call "bread wine", a distillate from the grains used to make bread.

This was also called vodka, and produced, Alexey explains, in copper pot stills in the same way as whisky.

When modern distillation technology was adopted in the late 19th century, polugar was gradually superseded by the spirit we know as vodka today.

The end came when Tsar Nicholas II made vodka production a state monopoly, and ordered the destruction of the polugar stills. Russian law still prohibits making "bread wine".

It is perfectly legal in Poland though, so when Alexey's father - vodka historian and master distiller Boris Rodionov - discovered an 18th century polugar recipe, that is where the family established their base.