Żubrówka Bison Grass Vodka () is a flavored

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

vodka Vodka ( pl, wódka , russian: водка , sv, vodka ) is a clear distilled alcoholic beverage. Different varieties originated in Poland, Russia, and Sweden. Vodka is composed mainly of water and ethanol but sometimes with traces of impuritie ...

which contains a blade of

bison grass ''Hierochloe odorata'' or ''Anthoxanthum nitens'' (commonly known as sweet grass, manna grass, Mary’s grass or vanilla grass, and as holy grass in the UK, bison grass e.g. by Polish vodka producers) is an aromatic herb native to northern Eu ...

(''Hierochloe odorata'') in every bottle. The Żubrówka brand name is also used on bottles of conventional

, labeled as Żubrówka Biała. The grass is sourced from the

Białowieża Forest Białowieża Forest; lt, Baltvyžių giria; pl, Puszcza Białowieska ; russian: Беловежская пуща, Belovezhskaya Pushcha is a forest on the border between Belarus and Poland. It is one of the last and largest remaining pa ...

, hand-picked and dried under natural conditions. Żubrówka ranks as the third or fourth best-selling vodka brand in the world (after

Smirnoff Smirnoff (; ) is a brand of vodka owned and produced by the British company Diageo. The Smirnoff brand began with a vodka distillery founded in Moscow by Pyotr Arsenievich Smirnov (1831–1898). It is distributed in 130 countries. Smirnoff produ ...

Absolut Absolut Vodka is a brand of vodka, produced near Åhus, in southern Sweden. Absolut is a part of the French group Pernod Ricard. Pernod Ricard bought Absolut for €5.63 billion in 2008 from the Swedish state. Absolut is one of the largest brands ...

, and occasionally

Khortytsia Khortytsia ( uk, Хортиця, Hortycja, translit-std=ISO, ) is the largest island in the Dnieper river, and is long and up to wide. The island forms part of the Khortytsia National Park. This historic site is located within the city limit ...

). Żubrówka is available in more than 80 markets worldwide. Żubrówka is manufactured at the

Polmos Białystok Polmos Białystok is one of the largest producers of alcoholic beverages in Poland. As of 2010, the firm's president was Henryk Wnorowski. Between 2005 and 2007 the company's stock was traded on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The firm was founded ...

distillery. While it is claimed that the recipe dates back as far as the 14th century, commercial production of Bison Grass Vodka first began at the distillery in 1928. The brand is owned by Central European Distribution Corporation International, which was acquired by Roust International in 2013. Since 2022, it has been owned by the Maspex Group.

Etymology and brand

In Polish, the word is officially used for

, while the name ''żubrówka'' has been used in folk terminology and colloquially. The name comes from the term ''zubr'' ( pl, żubr, ), the word for the

European bison The European bison (''Bison bonasus'') or the European wood bison, also known as the wisent ( or ), the zubr (), or sometimes colloquially as the European buffalo, is a European species of bison. It is one of two extant species of bison, along ...

in many

Slavic languages The Slavic languages, also known as the Slavonic languages, are Indo-European languages spoken primarily by the Slavic peoples and their descendants. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic, spoken during the Ear ...

and

Baltic languages The Baltic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 4.5 million people mainly in areas extending east and southeast of the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. Together with the Slavic lang ...

. The brands ''Zubrovka'' and ''Żubrówka'' are registered by

Sojuzplodoimport Soyuzplodoimport (russian: Союзплодоимпорт, , Union-fruit-import) is a company based in Moscow. Its owns the trademarks of different types of vodka, including the Stolichnaya and Moskovskaya (brand), Moskovskaya brands. The company al ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

and Roust International in Poland.

United States variant

Before 2010 Żubrówka was illegal in the United States because the grass it is made from contains

coumarin Coumarin () or 2''H''-chromen-2-one is an aromatic organic chemical compound with formula . Its molecule can be described as a benzene molecule with two adjacent hydrogen atoms replaced by a lactone-like chain , forming a second six-membered h ...

which the

FDA The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food s ...

classifies as a "substances generally prohibited from direct addition or use as human food". Since 2011 the manufacturers have made a version of Żubrówka from

rye Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is a member of the wheat tribe (Triticeae) and is closely related to both wheat (''Triticum'') and barley (genus ''Hordeum''). Rye grain is u ...

grain which aims to have a flavor similar to the original.

Methods of consumption

Żubrówka is sometimes mixed with

apple juice Apple juice is a fruit juice made by the maceration and pressing of an apple. The resulting expelled juice may be further treated by enzymatic and centrifugal clarification to remove the starch and pectin, which holds fine particulate in suspe ...

, known in the UK as a ''Frisky Bison'', and in the US as a ''Polish Kiss''. It is sometimes served over

vanilla Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus ''Vanilla (genus), Vanilla'', primarily obtained from pods of the Mexican species, flat-leaved vanilla (''Vanilla planifolia, V. planifolia''). Pollination is required to make the p ...

ice cream Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as str ...

, and another common mixer is

ginger ale Ginger ale is a carbonated soft drink flavoured with ginger. It is consumed on its own or used as a mixer, often with spirit-based drinks. There are two main types of ginger ale. The golden style is credited to the Irish doctor Thomas Joseph ...

References

External links

Roust International
Official site
CEDC Official Site

Zubrowka
at

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

Zubrowka: Polish Vodka and Cultural Geographic Indicators
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zubrowka Luxury brands Polish vodkas Polish brands Rye-based drinks

Etymology and brand

United States variant

Methods of consumption

See also

References

External links