Vodka is prepared via the fermentation of a wide array of different raw materials: Grains, potatoes, beets, sugar, among others. It is nicknamed the “green dragon” in Russia, its home country, where vodka was made long before the commercial version we have come to know today. The scarcity of honey in the 15th century forced manufacturers to turn to a cheaper raw material: grain. With the revolution of 1917, the Russian state exercised a monopoly on the production and sale of vodka. From then on, and until the early 1930s, the state prohibited the sale of vodka above 20° to control the proletariat. But when Stalin came to power, the strict laws were relaxed to allow for the existence of up to 40° distillations.