Polish Vodka Museum & Tasting

The Polish Vodka Museum is located in the Koneser vodka factory complex in the Praga district of Warsaw. Between WWI and WWII two of the most famous Polish vodkas were distilled here: Wyborowa and Luksusowa.

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Polish Vodka Museum Tour & Tasting

I chose to do a museum tour with a vodka tasting. The museum tour starts with a short movie in a small vintage movie theatre, with interviews of people who worked at the factory while it was still a place of production. After this introduction we learned about the history of Polish vodka, how vodka is produced, as well as traditions and customs associated with vodka and how those changed over the centuries.

How Vodka is made

Traditionally vodka is made from grains, like wheat, barley or rye. In the museum these different kinds of grains are showcased in an interactive way. Additionally potatoes and corn are also showcased as they are newer bases for vodka production.

The chosen base ingredient is milled, ground (grains) or blended (potatoes, corn) with warm water in order to break down the material into a mash. This mash is set aside so the ingredients are broken down into starches (dissolved into the water or swimming on top) and solids (sinking to the bottom).

The mash is heated up, then it is strained out so get rid of the remaining solids, as only the liquified starch-sugar water is needed for the rest of the process. The solids are often used for animal feed, since they contain high amounts of fibre, protein and fat (basically everything that wasn’t dissolved).

Once strained the liquid is them mixed with yeast and more water and sealed into containers to ferment. Fermentation takes about two weeks as the yeast “feeds” on the natural sugars. During the process ethanol is produced as a by-product. Ethanol is a kind of “simple alcohol”

Once the liquid is fermented it is heated to 80-90° Celsius. Since alcohol boils at a lower temperature than water and thus turns into vapour earlier only the alcohol rises into a condenser (third picture above) where it cools down again and then drips into a new container, while the water remains. The first drops of condensated liquid are full of toxins and get thrown out immediately. However, the remaining liquid still contains impurities. This is why (often) several rounds of distillation take place before the vodka is ready to be bottled.

The vodka most of us know is not “pure” alcohol from this process. When the distillation process is done the won liquid has an alcohol content of about 90%. This is diluted with water (and sometimes flavoured) until it reaches an alcohol content of around 40%.

After the “how vodka is made” section of the museum is a maze of illuminated shelves, showcasing a colourful collection of different vodka bottles from around the country and from different decades.

Vodka Tasting

The vodka tasting at the “Vodka Academy” at the end of the Polish Vodka Museum includes three different vodkas, indistinguishable by looks, but very different in smell and taste.

The first one was an Ostoya wheat vodka. It was slightly sweet and way smoother than I expected.

The second vodka was a Luksusowa potato vodka. It was a bit earthier than the Osotya, but not bitter.

The third and last vodka was a Wyborowa rye vodka. I would describe the taste as “crisp and spicy”, this one had more of the burn of a strong alcohol, but it didn’t bite like some cheap stuff does.

How to book a Tour of the Polish Vodka Museum & Tasting

The only way to see this museum is with a tour. The cheapest tour is the “Basic” one, for 70zł per person, includes the ticket to the museum, a guided tour and the above mentioned vodka tasting. For a little more you can add a Premium Vodka to your tasting. The spots are limited as the groups consist only of 25 people and different languages are offered at different times. Booking a ticket in advance is advised. You can book here*.

The basic tickets are not available on Fridays and Saturdays, so if you plan to visit during a long weekend in Warsaw, Sunday is your best option.