The Shot Served 'round the World

By Darryl Beeson

This is a quest for the roots of Estonia's Turi Vodka. Turi rhymes with 'hurry' and the morning ferry is about to depart Finland's waterside terminal in Helsinki. One hurries. A minor distance across the Baltic is Estonia's capital, Tallinn. Water and vodka share certain similarities, and the motion through the waves reminds a good number of the ferry's travelers of vodka, as they form rough queues for an early-morning shot from the ship's bar. A small plane, say a fifteen-seater, can make the Estonian connection from the Helsinki airport and affords a dramatic view of the thousands of islands below, unique to Estonia's portion of the Baltic. The ferry does possess a certain charm, though.

Maybe pass on the ferry's bar and vodka offering. Best to wait a few minutes till the ferry docks. Estonia has a 500-year-old vodka crafting expertise and the city of Tallinn, regarded a jewel of medieval architecture, may lend some very old clues about fine vodka. Many departing the ferry walk briskly, avoiding newer areas of the city, seeking the older, historic core and its charming cobblestone delineated square.

The old town area is inviting. There are churches, there are people in a flurry on the street, and there are lots of hills in old town providing cardiovascular elements to the Turi-trek. A flea-market on Saturday boasts proud artisans. These are very proud and freedom-loving citizens.

Pick a pub or a café from the many near the square and somehow procure a shot of Turi Vodka. The pubs and bars are influenced by Irish or American models, being more loud and perhaps spirited. Seek a kohvik (café), where alcohol is offered, though the buzz is not the priority.

Protocol insists that bread and vodka begin things upon arrival. The vodka is served in a smaller shot glass compared to American standards and is very cold. It is considered rude to sip and toasts are in order. Always and drink the entire shot.

The cuisine can be very meat and potatoes, countered by lots of fish and caviar (small grained red, not black) served with blini, sour cream, finely chopped red and white onion, chopped egg white and, separately, the yellow of the egg. Key menu words are soup (supp), dark bread (leib), sour cream (hapukoor) and herring (heeringas) figure prominently in the Estonian diet, a nod to the nation's largely peasant past. It has been said that if you like your food without frills you can eat very well here. A typical dish is verevorst and mulgikapsad (blood sausage and sauerkraut), and smoked fish rules so to speak, particularly eel (angerjas), perch (ahven) and pike (haug).

Back to the fine vodka quest. Find a pub or café. While ordering a serving of Turi, one of the local culture's numerous proverbs comes to mind. "You shall have as good as you bring." The bartender brings the Turi. The vodka reflects this proud culture, made from the highest quality Estonian rye and natural spring water only and resulting in remarkable smoothness. It is distilled four times and charcoal filtered for brilliant clarity. A producer that distills more than four times is grand-standing. Any additional distillation adds nothing more to the purity.

This story is not to imply that one must go all the way to Estonia to obtain a splash of Turi. Despite limited availability at first, Turi Vodka drew the attention of a select few American consumers in the fall of 2002, and the word now is that the supply is continuing to grow, allowing for a more national distribution. The bottle is dramatic and clear, capped in a silver-styled cap in honor of Estonia's tradition of silver crafting. The contents are as smooth as Estonia's spring water. A brief sniff, advisable with vodka unlike wine, communicates subtle spice, cocoa and floral. Not heavy in the mouth, the splash back to the throat offers delicate flavors with an off-dry finish. This rye beverage has roots derived from just that- rye. Turi is a vodka worth chasing down. Roughly, the local price of a shot converts somewhere between one English pound and one American dollar, though the local currency is the kroon.

After the velvety pleasing shot of Turi, the bartender communicates an interesting tradition with the aid of an English speaking local at the bar (many of the locals speak English). When an Estonian man identifies his bride to be, custom dictates that he symbolically place a bottle of vodka on the family's table. If the bottle is accepted and consumed by the family, the marriage proposal has been accepted.

Independent from Soviet control for a mere decade, there are now more pubs and gathering places, especially in the capital, Tallinn. Estonians are stoic and frugal with their emotions, except in these establishments, likely the only place where the citizens might actually roar in laughter. Most Estonians have cell phones and are web-savvy. The nations government is paperless and computerized. Some have suggested renaming the country e-stonia.

Estonia is part of the so-called vodka-belt, and it did earn that title one belt at a time. Vodka is a clear neutral spirit that originated in Northeastern Europe. Though the exact country of origin is unknown, both Poland and Russia try to claim such. A clue is provided by the root of the word vodka. "Voda" means water in Russian. Most likely created in the twelfth century for medicinal purposes, vodka was originally distilled from rye, and did not garner recreational attention until the middle of the fourteenth century.

Vodka did not find popularity in America until the 1930's. Wildly making up for a few centuries of lost time, it is now the most popular spirit in America, the key component in one out of four cocktails concocted. Growth in the super-premium imports category, of which Turi Vodka is a rightful member, is being watched closely as it continues to take over market share.

George Delgado, the beverage specialist at Trump's World Bar in New York City, invented the natural progression for a cocktail containing Turi. The Baltic Sea Martini's hook is its garnish- black olives stuffed with tiny grains of red caviar. Red caviar is a central part of the Estonian diet, due to Estonia's nearness to the Baltic Sea.