EU: Europe's vodka-drinkers can rest easy knowing that EU law will allow them to buy their favourite tipple made from a bewildering array of farm produce such as grapes and sugar cane and not just potatoes and grain.
EU experts have spent the last five years trying to nail down exactly what vodka should be made from. They now look close to reaching a conclusion, rejecting an attempt by four northern EU governments to protect their versions of "traditional vodka".
In a draft law due to surface later this month, the European Commission will define how vodka should be distilled but not limit the products used in the initial yeast-aided fermentation. Minimum alcoholic strength by volume will be 37.5 per cent.
The bill will then be discussed by EU ministers and is almost guaranteed to cause controversy. An earlier version had stipulated that vodka should be fermented with yeast from "raw materials based on grain, potato, sugar beet and/or molasses".
Estonia, Finland, Poland and Sweden recently wrote to the EU Commission saying that vodka should only be distilled from the traditional ingredients of grain and potatoes, against the wishes of several countries that want to make vodka from other items.