Vodka TURNS 500

ANCHOR
Well Russia’s most famous export, vodka, turns 500 this year. The drink may well be popular the world over, but it’s Russians themselves who see the drink as an essential part of their colorful history. Many say the country just wouldn’t be the same without it. Jill Dougherty looks at the lasting appeal and influence of Russia’s national drink.

CORRESPONDENT
We’ll call her Natasha. She doesn’t want her real name used. Here’s where she keeps it in her bedroom, behind a blue curtain. Moonshine, in Russian, somagon. Five pounds of sugar, some water and yeast, ferment for about ten days, then distill it.

NATASHA
People in Russia have been making moonshine for years and years. My father used to make it from beets.

CORRESPONDENT
Moonshine may be Russia’s most affordable hard liquor, but Russia’s most famous drink is vodka.

JILL DOUGHERTY, MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF
In Russian, the word means little water. Tradition has it, vodka was invented by monks in the Kremlin 500 years ago as an antiseptic. Then the monks began to drink it.

CORRESPONDENT
Since then, almost every event in a Russian’s life, from marriages to funerals, is blessed and sometimes cursed with vodka. Studies show Russians drink more hard liquor than any nation in the world. Russians don’t sip vodka, they drink it bottoms up. After a shot of vodka, they have a chaser , something salty or a pickle.
But it’s not ‘how’ they drink vodka, but ‘why’ that sets Russians apart. Throughout Russia’s turbulent history, vodka has been the ultimate remedy for people to forget their troubles.
Author Viktor Erofeev has studied the history of vodka, he calls it the Russian God.

VIKTOR EROFEEV
Other countries, they can’t drink. In Russia, it is not drinking. You are drinking not vodka; you are drinking your own soul.

CORRESPONDENT
Russia’s history, he says, would be different without vodka. Soviet president Mikail Gorbachev tried to ban it. Boris Yelsin was a big fan of vodka. Vladimir Putin prefers green tea. So will vodka be the Russian national drink for another 500 years?

NATASHA
Oh, I don’t think you can live in Russia without vodka.

CORRESPONDENT
Natasha, our home distiller thinks so. Jill Dougherty, CNN, Moscow.

伏特加精彩500年

主播
到今年为止，俄国最为著名的出口商品伏特加已经有了五百年的历史。这种酒享誉全世界，在俄国人心中，它更是他们丰富多彩的历史不可或缺的部分。许多人说没有这种酒俄国就不一样。记者吉尔•多赫蒂亲眼目睹了俄国国酒持久的魅力和影响。

记者
我们且称她为娜塔莎。因为她不希望用她的真名，她把威士忌保存在卧室的蓝色幕帘后面，威士忌的俄文是 somagon。制作方法是：五磅糖、一些水以及酵母，大约发酵十天，然后蒸馏。

娜塔莎
俄国人酿造这种威士忌已经很多年了。我父亲习惯用甜菜根来酿酒。

记者
这种威士忌是俄国人最买得起的烈性酒，但俄国最著名的酒还是伏特加。

吉尔•多赫迪， 莫斯科总编
俄语中，伏特加的意思就是极少的水。传说它是五百年前克里姆林宫里的僧侣发明的，用作防腐剂，后来这些僧侣开始饮用它。

记者
从那开始，俄国人生活中的每一件大事，从婚嫁到葬礼，无论是祝福还是诅咒，都会有伏特加相伴。研究表明俄国人喝的酒比世界上任何其它国家的酒都烈得多。俄国人从不小口地呷饮伏特加，他们总是一饮而尽，喝完之后再喝一点清淡的东西，如盐水之类的饮料。
但令俄国人与众不同的不是他们“如何”喝伏特加，而是“为什么”。纵览俄国风云跌宕的历史，伏特加往往成为人们忘记烦恼的最后一剂良药。
作家Viktor Erofeev曾经研究过伏特加的历史，他称伏特加为俄国的上帝。

Viktor Erofeev
其它国家的人不能喝酒。在俄国，这不是喝酒，你喝的不是伏特加，你喝下的是自己的灵魂。

记者
他说如果没有伏特加，俄国的历史会迥然不同。前苏联国家主席米•谢•戈尔巴乔夫曾经试图禁止饮用伏特加。俄国前总统叶利钦却对伏特加钟爱有加，现任俄国总统普京偏爱绿茶。这样说来在下一个五百年里，伏特加还会是俄国的国酒吗？

娜塔莎
我认为在俄国没有伏特加就无法生活。

记者
这是我们的家庭酿酒者娜塔莎的观点，CNN，吉尔•多赫蒂从莫斯科报道。