Do you believe in fate and human predestination? Do you think behaviour is nothing more than a simple reaction under certain conditions? But who creates the conditions? Most people answer this question with a cliché “That’s life”.

 Big Bang

On the 25^th of June 1918 a loud bang was heard in the outskirts of a small Russian town, Pskov. Explosions and fires were not uncommon during that period, when the Civil War was in full swing. This time the wine factory of Peter N blew up. This was not someone’s malicious intent; the owner activated the explosive device with his own hands. Several newly equipped workshops, storehouses, thousands of gallons of vodka, cognac and wine -everything was raised to the ground in a moment. Peter N destroyed his property rather than hand it to the new communist authorities.

 The fire was so terrific that nobody even tried to contain it. The owner of the factory, an educated engineer, had calculated the explosions size. Dynamite was placed in such a way as to destroy the big factory instantly, without damaging the towns-peoples houses. Not a single innocent person suffered in the explosion, and the peaceful houses went undamaged. Peter N himself was the only casualty.  Either he had no time to leave the factory before the explosion, or he didn’t want to.  

 Peter N widowed his wife Vera and their three sons: Vladimir, Gleb and Sergey. It was unsafe to move to another town, but to stay at home was equally unsafe. The new authorities robbed wealthy people without any mercy and covered their tracks, shooting witnesses and those who resisted the tyranny.

Vladimir and Gleb went to the Far East the day after the explosion. Vladimir reached Vladivostok, his brother having died from typhoid at some desolated railway station in Eastern Siberia on the way.

 15-year old Sergey, the youngest brother, escaped to the South, trying to join General Krasnovs’ army - he wanted to fight against the Red Army. We don’t know anything about his further life.

The widow of the wine factory owner, Vera N, in her third month of pregnancy followed her sons; she decided not to wait for the Red Terror to reach her.

 The Whole of Russia was involved in furious fighting. In four months Vera reached the Urals, where she gave birth to her daughter Tatiana. It was dangerous to travel with a baby, so Vera stayed in Yekaterinburg.   

  Search for the secret

 Time passed, the Civil War ended. Vera N was working at the local clothes factory and raising her daughter. She didn’t know anything about her three sons. It wasn’t safe to try and find out. She carefully concealed her past, not even telling her daughter about it. The only thing left from her former life was a blue manuscript, which she kept all these years. This manuscript was handed down in N’s family for the past two hundred years. It contained ancient recipes for different kinds of vodka – many generations of their family held the tradition of making vodka. Whatever disasters fell upon the Ns these recipes would be kept as the most valuable family heirloom. Long ago, one of the N’s ancestors returned from the European campaigns with these recipes. According to legend he got them in Southern Chechia from a monastery wine-maker dying of leprosy.         

 When the Second World War started, Vladimir N was working as a laboratory assistant at a ship-repair yard in Vladivostok and was called to take arms. During the past twenty years, he diligently studied chemistry, trying to recreate his father’s recipes, lost long ago. Sometimes he was successful, sometimes not. However, he never lost hope, especially as it seemed he was close to solving the secret of the recipes. The Second World War would prevent him from doing it…

His involvement in the war was brief. In July of 1942 he was captured by the Germans near Leningrad and taken prisoner. With the other captives he was taken to a prisoner-of-war camp in Vinnitsa, Ukraine. Living conditions in the camp were poor; the camp provided only the barest means for survival.

Every-day people died from hunger, infections, and back breaking labour. That autumn Vladimir caught pneumonia and fell seriously ill. There was no hope for recovery; in his weakened state he was unable to fight disease. Vladimir made one last effort – he asked the commandant of the camp to help him in exchange for the secret ancient wine recipes.

 Otto Schtrudt, the commandant of the camp owned a small winery at the South of France, so he was interested in Vladimir’s offer. It was a fast way to become rich. Vladimir was taken to hospital, and given a small private room. Every day the camp doctor gave Schtrudt a report of his new patients’ health condition. Vladimir recovered. The commandant gave him a small room in his mansion to work on the wine chemistry. Vladimir turned it into a laboratory. The equipment was taken from a burnt out and neglected agricultural school. Vladimir was to recreate the ancient recipes. However, that would not be easy…        

 The fighting of the Eastern Front grew nearer, and the camp was evacuated to Poland. However, during the prisoners’ transportation, two people disappeared, the camp commandant Otto Schtrudt, and a Russian prisoner Vladimir N. A committee of enquiry was organized, but it failed to find them. 

 Successor

 After the war the Russians took the camp archives, including all evidence concerning the disappearance of the camp commandant. The documents were sent to the KGB State Archives in Moscow. There was a worldwide search for Nazi war criminals, and Moscow KGB started to investigate this case, but without success. They lost the trail of Schtrudt and Vladimir N in Switzerland, where they changed names and passports. But the investigators found Vladimir’s camp notes. 

 In the early 1950-s thirty-five year old Tatiana N was summoned to the local KGB office. She found the investigator’s questions strange. He asked her about her brother, Vladimir and where she had last seen him. Tatiana had no idea she had a brother. Though her mother mentioned having three sons once, she didn’t tell Tatiana much about them. The investigator made sure she didn’t know anything in the usual KGB manner, and she wasn’t called to KGB ever again.

 The years passed and in 1966 Dmitry, Tatyana’s grandson was born. The family still lived in the Urals. From childhood Dmitry dreamed of becoming a sailor. After finishing school he was called to military service. Two-years military service is compulsory in Russia, for sailors it’s three years. Dmitry served in the Navy. After completing his service he found a job in the merchant fleet. He would be there now, if not for unforeseen circumstances. In 1997 the economic situation in Russia was very unstable, dozens of companies appeared and dozens went broke. The ship Dmitry worked on was at port in New Zealand when the company that owned it went broke. The sailors were forgotten about, they didn’t even get wages for the last months. They had to do their best to settle down in this country.

 Alexander

 A chemicals' tester named Alexander Polanski moved into a flat in an old house. Though old, the house was in excellent condition, in the very center of Nakhodka city in the Far East. Like many new tenants Alexander started life in his “new” flat with some maintenance. While looking through large, dusty piles of books and papers on the top of an old built-in wardrobe he came across copybooks full of chemical formulas. Curious and scrupulous by nature, Alexander got interested in these notes and started to study them thoroughly. He understood that the person who had done all this work wanted to recreate a lost alcohol formula, trying to determine the ingredients and their proportions.  

 The notes were incomplete – the author hadn’t finished his work. Alexander hoped to complete this task. But he lacked free time; it was hard enough just to earn money for his family. He tried to develop his business, and it was not easy. The idea came to move overseas; after long discussions his family chose New Zealand.  

Alexander arrived in Christchurch. It was 2001. He brought his copybooks. He believed they would bring him luck one day. It was difficult for a foreigner in a foreign land. He wanted his dream to come true. He was studying and getting ready to start his own business. The copybooks decided his occupation – he would open a brewery.

 The meeting

 Dmitry N tried to adjust to this new country, left to the mercy of fate together with other sailors. New Zealand was hospitable and took care of them. He married. Later he went to Russia to visit his parents. His grandmother gave him the blue manuscript. It survived all the hard times that fell upon Russia. For ninety years it was sitting behind the back wall of a large bookcase.

 Dmitry couldn’t imagine what it was. He had heard about the family legend, but this was the first time when he saw the manuscript. His grandmother said: “The future of our family is in here. I believe you can revive the N’ wealth and fame. This is yours”. Dmitry brought the manuscript to Christchurch. What do all these notes mean? There were many questions, Dmitry forgot about it for a while.  

 He met Alexander accidentally – hard to believe, but destiny brought them together at a party. Alexander told Dmitry about his business. He had designed a distillation machine and was working hard to construct it. He didn’t mention the copybooks. He invited Dmitry to visit his workshop. In time they shared their secrets.

 The friends

 Dmitry says, “I was amazed - it just can’t have happened! We were born in different cities and grew up in different conditions. Different things brought us to New Zealand and now I am reading the notes of my ancestor; I didn’t know about his existence at all! It was Alexander who brought these notes here!”

 His business partner Alexander says, “I have always believed, it is destiny. People argue a lot about destiny, but when you witness such things there is no argument! We looked through the notes for long time. We found the notes complement each other, it’s a miracle! We’ve already made a test batch of vodka according to one of the ancient recipes, which exceeded all possible expectations. It’s just the beginning, and we  will provide New Zealanders with wonderful delicious drinks. Soon this vodka will become a New Zealand Icon”.

P.S.

This story has not got the happy ending; after a couple of years of almost successful operation the company collapsed due to mismanagement ( too many decision makers) and business partners misunderstanding of each other. Dmitry leaved the country and currently lives somewhere in Russia, Alexander still live in New Zealand, he decided to finally reveal the stills' technology to people and formed another company that no longer makes any vodka but makes the stills that are based on the technology that was once used to manufacture a popular vodka brand.

It is not necessary that some of the characters in the story are real and some of the events mentioned in the above story had ever took place in the history.