Following the fall of communism in 1989, the importance of vodka in Poland dropped sharply

The history of vodka is inseparable from the history of Poland. Asking where exactly it originated is the easiest way of stirring up a fight between a Pole and a Russian. Suffice to say that the distillation of grain alcohol started somewhere in north-eastern Europe in the 8th or 9th century and that the word vodka ("little water") began to be used in Poland in the 15th century.

The two most distinctive Polish varieties, Zubrowka (made with a blade of bison grass) and Goldwasser (which contains flakes of gold), date from the 16th and 17th centuries respectively.

To this day, no Polish wedding would be complete without gut-warming shots of vodka all round, but the view of Poles as hooked on the drink is outdated by decades. According to figures from the World Health Authority, of the alcohol that Poles drank in 1980, over 80% was in the form of vodka.

Following the fall of communism in 1989, however, the importance of vodka in Poland dropped sharply. In around 1996, beer took over as the nation's favourite drink, and it remains dominant today, accounting for more than half of alcohol sales.

A group of Poles out on the town these days now are far more likely to be going for a beer than a vodka. In fact, the pattern is not dissimilar to that in Britain, although the quantities drunk on any given night out are significantly lower.