The Polish Vodka Museum: This Is How Vodka Is Made!

Vodka Is Not the Same as Polish Vodka

The Polish Vodka Museum opened on 12 June 2018 and has attracted considerable interest. It is fascinating not only for international visitors to learn where vodka comes from, who most likely made the first vodka and what Polish Vodka can actually be made from. For visitors from Poland, it is also a valuable lesson in how to drink vodka properly and responsibly and in understanding the differences between vodka and Polish Vodka. The Polish Vodka Museum teaches visitors that vodka is not merely spirit mixed with water, but that it is connected to a deeper philosophy that has had a significant influence on the Polish national character.

This detailed article is based on the experiences of Antoni, who worked as a museum guide for two years.

The Former Vodka Factory in Warsaw

Construction of the vodka factory in the 19th century @ Public Domain

The Vodka Museum in Warsaw is located in the rectification building of the former Koneser vodka factory. The production facility was built in 1897 and produced vodka until 2006. Major renovation work was necessary only shortly after the Second World War.

After the vodka factory went bankrupt, the investor BBI Development took over the revitalisation of the entire complex. Today, it is a hipster hub with numerous cafés, bars and restaurants, art galleries and event venues. The Polish Vodka Museum is located on Plac Konesera, the heart of the complex. It is difficult to imagine a better location for this museum.

Guided Tours of the Vodka Museum

Guided tours are available in English…

The museum can be visited with a museum guide or with an audio guide. We advise against choosing the audio-guide option because visitors are given only a limited amount of time to explore the museum, and from experience, we know that the time slots are far too short. This somewhat rushed atmosphere is caused by the fact that a guided tour begins every 20 minutes and the tastings also follow a regular schedule.

It is better to take advantage of a guided museum tour with a museum guide who presents and explains the most important points. The tour lasts one hour, followed by a fifteen-minute tasting. In our opinion, this is perfectly sufficient. Moreover, the tickets cost the same.

The final tour begins at 7 p.m., or at 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

Guided Tours in Other Languages

… and also in German!

As a rule, the first tour begins at 12:20 p.m. in Polish. All English-language tours begin at 40 minutes past every hour. Tours beginning on the hour are held in Polish.

Tours in other languages, such as Spanish, Italian, French or German, must be booked in advance, unless you are lucky enough to find that a suitable museum guide is available at the time.

Antoni also continues to work with the Vodka Museum. Use our website to book a guided tour in German.

The Exhibition

The museum exhibition consists of a cinema and four galleries on the first floor.

The Museum Cinema

The cinema at the Polish Vodka Museum © Walking Warsaw

Every tour begins with a short documentary film in the museum’s retro-style cinema, which has 46 seats. The seats originally came from the Komedia Theatre in the Żoliborz district. The walls and ceiling are covered with perforated brass panels, a reference to the distillation columns that were traditionally made mainly from brass.

The enormous screen shows a film lasting almost six minutes. It presents the personal stories of people who were responsible for the production, image and export of vodka in communist Poland. They are Wanda Moscicka, Jerzy Chlistunoff and Ryszard Kazanecki.

The film is in Polish with English subtitles.

Gallery 1

In the first gallery, the museum guide explains the definition of Polish Vodka and all the relevant connections. Polish Vodka is a protected geographical indication. The word vodka also originates from Poland.

A large map of Europe briefly presents the origins and spread of the art of distillation. Here, the museum guides also discuss the question of which Slavic nation actually made the first vodka.

The tour then continues past miniature silos containing the raw materials used to produce Polish Vodka. What are most Polish vodkas made from, and why? Where does the production process actually begin? Which social group had a significant influence on Polish drinking culture? What did the inhabitants of Poland drink before vodka, considering that it has a history of “only” 500 years? During the first 30 minutes of the tour, the museum guide addresses these and many other questions in Gallery 1.

Gallery 2

The second gallery provides a visual and three-dimensional presentation of how Pistorius’s distillation apparatus from 1817 worked. Here, visitors learn more about the history of the rectification building and the entire vodka factory, today known as Centrum Praskie Koneser.

Gallery 3

In the third gallery, the museum guide explains the production process in an agricultural distillery, beginning with a steam cooker and continuing through the mash tank, fermentation tank, distillation column and filter. Measurements are taken with an alcoholmeter.

The distillation column, the filter known as the Stagiewka and the alcoholmeter are original.

The production processes in a rectification plant are illustrated with a short film.

Gallery 4

The exhibition at the Vodka Museum @ City of Warsaw

The final gallery features a colourful display from the museum’s bottle collection, including pure vodkas and flavoured vodkas. There is also a separate exhibition devoted to Wyborowa vodka, which originated in this building.

By this point, a full hour has passed, and the museum guide takes the group one floor higher to the Vodka Academy Bar (VAB), where the tasting takes place.

The Collection of the Polish Vodka Museum

The collection of the Polish Vodka Museum consists of more than 1,600 objects. The museum collection consists mainly of bottles of historic Polish vodkas, both bottles with preserved contents and empty bottles. The collection also contains museum objects of an archival nature, including publications, reports, paper labels from historic vodkas, advertising brochures, posters and equipment connected with the production and promotion of Polish Vodka.
A significant part of the collection consists of exhibits originating from the Lubuska Vodka Factory in Zielona Góra and transferred by Wyborowa S.A., Pernod Ricard, as well as material from the archive of the Polish Vodka Association. Donations and purchases on the collectors’ market form an important addition to the collection. Many donated artefacts were “discovered” during the renovation or cleaning of old houses and apartments. The stories behind such artefacts are meticulously recorded as part of the documentation process.

The Tasting

The tasting is, of course, the highlight of the entire tour. Visitors receive three vodkas made from three different raw materials: wheat, rye and potatoes. They are served at room temperature in special tasting glasses.

The purpose of the tasting is not to tell visitors what is good or bad, but to show everyone involved that each raw material produces a different kind of vodka. Everyone must decide for themselves which one they like best. Believe me, there really are considerable differences.

Are There Two Vodka Museums?

There are, in fact, two vodka museums in Warsaw. The museum described here is located in Praga-North, on the right bank of the Vistula, while the other is situated near Warsaw’s Old Town. The museum on the left bank of the Vistula has very irregular opening hours, contacting the museum management is extremely difficult, and the exhibition follows a completely different schedule. As the museum is merely part of a restaurant, it quickly becomes clear that the restaurant’s operators treat it only as an additional attraction. In general, we can only recommend avoiding this museum.

What Else Is Located in the Building?

The former rectification building houses more than just the museum on the second floor. The 3/4 Bar is located on the third and fourth floors, while the Alembik shop, souvenir shop and Wedel Café are situated on the ground floor.

Sources

• Cieślak, Jan, From Abboccato to Żubrówka. Everything About Beverages. Wydawnictwo Naukowo – Techniczne Warsaw, 1978, 1992.
• Cieślak, Jan, Lasik, Henryk, Wódek Technology. Wydawnictwo Naukowo – Techniczne Warsaw, 1979.
• Karwowski, Przemysław, Od Likierów do Luksusowej. Historia i leksykon produktów Lubuskiej Wytwórnia Wódek Gatunkowych w Zielonej Górze, Gloria Monte Verde Foundation, Zielona Górze 2016.