The name vodka is a diminutive form of the Slavic word voda (water), interpreted as "little water". Another possible connection of vodka with water is the name of the medieval alcoholic beverage aqua vitae (Latin, literally, "water of life"). Other names for vodka have roots meaning "to burn" and "burning wine".
Vodka is traditionally drunk "neat", often served freezer chilled in the "vodka belt" countries of Belarus, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Lithuania, Latvia, Norway, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and Ukraine.
Vodka may be distilled from any starch or sugar-rich plant matter; most today is produced from grains such as sorghum, corn, rye or wheat. Among grain vodkas, rye and wheat are generally considered superior. Some are made from potatoes, molasses, soybeans, grapes, rice, sugar beets and sometimes even byproducts of oil refining or wood pulp processing. Vodka belt countries insist that only spirits produced from grains, potato and sugar beet molasses be allowed to be branded as "vodka", following the traditional methods of production.
Filtering is often done in the still through activated charcoal and other media to absorb trace amounts of substances that impart off-flavors. However, this is not the case in the traditional vodka-producing nations. Many distillers from these countries prefer to use very accurate distillation but minimal filtering, thus preserving the unique flavors and characteristics of their products.
Studies have revealed negligible differences in taste between various brands of vodka, leading to speculation as to how much branding contributes to the concept of "super premium vodkas".
Vodka has had a flourishing black market. In 2013 organizers of a "vodka car" were jailed for illegally providing thousands of liters to people as young as 13.