The story of Nikita Corn Vodka starts during the Cold War Era when the then Premier of the Soviet Union Nikita Khrushchev, impressed by the corn agriculture in the U.S., sought to plant corn throughout all the regions of the country-even in Siberia. The idea proved to be mostly a disaster, but not for Ukraine. Corn is considered the “gold” of Ukraine. It is one of the main agricultural crops. There are ideal conditions for its cultivation, including fertile Ukrainian chernozem (soil rich in minerals and high moisture retention capacity). Corn is the second best-selling grain crop in the world (after wheat). Today Ukraine (now an independent country) is one of the three global leaders in the exportation of corn and one of the largest producers of non-GMO corn. The discovery of corn spirits in the 1960s in the USSR (with minimal levels of aldehydes, oils, and esters) made the idea of creating high quality alcohol possible. There is much agreement that zea luxurians (yellow corn) produce alcohol of the highest quality. The corn grown in Ukraine is non-GMO and has been used to produce LUX class spirits according to the Ukrainian Research Institute of Alcohol and Food Biotechnology.
