Medovukha is an Old Balto-Slavic honey

Honey

Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...

-based alcoholic beverage very similar to mead

Mead

Mead , also called honey wine, is an alcoholic beverage that is produced by fermenting a solution of honey and water. It may also be produced by fermenting a solution of water and honey with grain mash, which is strained immediately after fermentation...

. These two words are related and go back to the Proto-Indo-European

Proto-Indo-European language

The Proto-Indo-European language is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, spoken by the Proto-Indo-Europeans...

 meddhe (honey). Known in Eastern Europe since pagan times, it remained popular well into the 19th century (unlike in Western Europe, where mead is traditionally associated with the Middle Ages).

History and manufacture

Wild honey farming was one of the first Slavic trades. They discovered that honey could be fermented

Fermentation (food)

Fermentation in food processing typically is the conversion of carbohydrates to alcohols and carbon dioxide or organic acids using yeasts, bacteria, or a combination thereof, under anaerobic conditions. Fermentation in simple terms is the chemical conversion of sugars into ethanol...

, and the first fermented honeys appeared as a luxury product in Europe, where it was imported in huge quantities.

Fermentation occurs naturally over 15 to 50 years, originally rendering the product very expensive and only accessible to the nobility

Nobility

Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...

. However, Slavs found that fermentation occurred much faster when the honey mixture was heated, enabling Medovukha to become a folk drink in the territory of Rus'

Rus' (people)

The Rus' were a group of Varangians . According to the Primary Chronicle of Rus, compiled in about 1113 AD, the Rus had relocated from the Baltic region , first to Northeastern Europe, creating an early polity which finally came under the leadership of Rurik...

.

In the 14th century, the invention of a distilling tank and a process of distillation

Distillation

Distillation is a method of separating mixtures based on differences in volatilities of components in a boiling liquid mixture. Distillation is a unit operation, or a physical separation process, and not a chemical reaction....

 made it possible to create a prototype of the modern Medovukha. In the 17th century, the increasing popularity of vodka

Vodka

Vodka , is a distilled beverage. It is composed primarily of water and ethanol with traces of impurities and flavorings. Vodka is made by the distillation of fermented substances such as grains, potatoes, or sometimes fruits....

 eclipsed the former fame of Medovukha. During the rule of Peter I of Russia

Peter I of Russia

Peter the Great, Peter I or Pyotr Alexeyevich Romanov Dates indicated by the letters "O.S." are Old Style. All other dates in this article are New Style. ruled the Tsardom of Russia and later the Russian Empire from until his death, jointly ruling before 1696 with his half-brother, Ivan V...

, ancient recipes were lost. Leading production engineers are actively searching for the ancient recipes of Medovukha.

Medovukha producers are very proud of the fact that it is made solely from natural ingredients. Honey from several Ukrainian farms is used, including farms from Poltava

Poltava

Poltava is a city in located on the Vorskla River in central Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Poltava Oblast , as well as the surrounding Poltava Raion of the oblast. Poltava's estimated population is 298,652 ....

 and Cherkasy

Cherkasy

Cherkasy or Cherkassy , is a city in central Ukraine. It is the capital of the Cherkasy Oblast , as well as the administrative center of the surrounding Cherkasky Raion within the oblast...

 regions, and from Crimea

Crimea

Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...

 and Carpathians

Carpathian Mountains

The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians are a range of mountains forming an arc roughly long across Central and Eastern Europe, making them the second-longest mountain range in Europe...

. The honey first undergoes preparation for blending (a high-tech process affordable only by manufacturers with special equipment), then the honey is blended with distilled water to obtain the final product. Other manufacturers add concentrate to a prepared water-alcohol mixture.

Modern commercially produced Medovukha is sold at the honey product shops (that also sell honey itself and a variety of health products produced at honey farms). The revival of the widespread honey products consumption in Russia centers itself around the health-aware consumers (mostly elderly), and Medovukha itself hasn't yet asprired to any significant share of the alcoholic beverages market. Nonetheless, modern examples include bottled Medovukha sold at the "Russian Bistro" fast food

Fast food

Fast food is the term given to food that can be prepared and served very quickly. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered to be fast food, typically the term refers to food sold in a restaurant or store with preheated or precooked ingredients, and served to the customer in a...

 outlets across Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

, and tap Medovukha of different brands offered by a network of honey shops in St. Petersburg.