Movie = Defiance, slosh some vodka out of the glass?

Wayne02 · Jul 31, 2009

I watched the movie Defiance last night and was curious about a practice displayed in the movie.

Jewish guy on the run in Nazi occupied Eastern Europe seeks out Russian sympathizer guy to obtain a handgun that the Russian guy owns. Jewish guy and Russian guy sit down to have a drink of vodka in Russian guys cabin. Russian guy fills each glass. Each man picks up their glass and promptly sloshes some of it out on the floor before drinking it. Why? Some sort of cultural ritual deal?

Btw, I rather liked the movie, though I'm not a fan of Daniel Craig (Tuvia). However, Liev Schreiber who played Tuvia's brother Zus really had a great performance in this film.

"Our revenge is to live. We may be hunted like animals but we will not become animals. We have all chosen this - to live free, like human beings, for as long as we can. Each day of freedom is a victory. And if we die trying to live, at least we die like human beings." Tuvia

Amici · Aug 1, 2009

Wayne02 said:
I watched the movie Defiance last night and was curious about a practice displayed in the movie.

Jewish guy on the run in Nazi occupied Eastern Europe seeks out Russian sympathizer guy to obtain a handgun that the Russian guy owns. Jewish guy and Russian guy sit down to have a drink of vodka in Russian guys cabin. Russian guy fills each glass. Each man picks up their glass and promptly sloshes some of it out on the floor before drinking it. Why? Some sort of cultural ritual deal?

It may - again, MAY - be a way to get a certain contaminant (fusel oil or some such crap) out. Production standards during distillation being somewhat, err, "lax" at the time, apparently some noxious by-product was in the vodka.

I vaguely recall a reference to it in one of the James Bond novels. Bond sprinkled pepper on his vodka, the idea being that the pepper would absorb the contaminant and sink to the bottom. Instead of sloshing it off the top, you would leave a bit at the bottom.

GatorFarmer · Aug 1, 2009

Maybe they were pouring some out for their dead homies.

Alpo · Aug 1, 2009

Ta Sador Gor

pete-driver · Aug 1, 2009

I watched the movie last weekend, I liked it.

Spotteddog · Aug 1, 2009

Not certain?
But I do believe Gator is correct?

Movie = Defiance, slosh some vodka out of the glass?

Wayne02

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Amici

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GatorFarmer

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Alpo

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pete-driver

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Spotteddog

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