The Polish claim it was their discovery. The Russians will tell you that it was theirs. But whatever the case, vodka consumption in the U.S. is beginning to catch up to that seen in many Eastern European cultures.

According to the 2003 edition of the Adam’s Beverage Group Handbook, a staple watchdog of the industry, nearly 39.4 million cases of vodka were slugged down in the U.S. last year. And that number is expected to climb to 46.5 million cases by 2007.

Attractive bottle designs and smoother quality are fueling the trend as vodka producers successfully chip away at the product’s “moonshine” image and turn it into a spirit that today’s trendy watering holes can’t do without. Names like Absolut, Stoli and Grey Goose, for example are among the “liquid golds” in a market where advertising expenditures soared to 89.3 million dollars last year.

Catching the big consumer wave with a newfangled marketing approach, however, is Effen Vodka, a small-batch producer that recently introduced a refined distillation based on a centuries-old Dutch recipe. Here, the company is doing everything that other vodka makers aren’t — and hitting big success without spending much on advertising.

The company’s sleek 750 ml bottles, for example, designed by those with bartending experience, are wrapped in white rubber to give handlers a “no-slip” grip while allowing the vodka to stay cold longer. Impurity-free corks assure that the vodka (distilled hundreds of times through peat at below-normal temperatures) remains as pure and clean as the day it was bottled in Holland.

“We looked at the vodka industry in general and realized that everyone was trying to come up with something more precious than what came before it,” says Brad Trayser, executive vice president of marketing. “The word ‘effen’ means smooth and balanced in Dutch. And our packaging falls along the artistic sensibilities of minimalist artists like Donald Judd and Carl Andre so that the image can’t be associated with a particular demographic or personality. It’s an unusual way to bring a product to market,” he adds.

A premium vodka by all accounts, Effen retails for $29.99, which is on par with other deluxe labels such as Belvedere or Grey Goose. Only two basic versions comprise the product line — a pleasing, sugar-free black cherry vodka that stands well on its own when served with ice, plus an unflavored formula that offers subtle undertones of vanilla and adheres to its “effen” adjective.

Trayser says that sales at the company have been “off the hook” since launching the product in only 11 states so far, including California. “We view this as kind of a discovery-brand product since we’ve been very limited in our ad campaign.”

Locally, the product has nudged its way onto the same shelf spaces that house labels from the more aggressive mass-marketing pool. Bourbon Street, for example already offers Effen, along with popular downtown clubs such as On Broadway, E Street Alley and the W Hotel. Trayser adds that the company is currently “in dialogue” with Hamburger Mary’s as well.

Industry experts conclude that vodka, which in Russia is the diminutive word for voda, meaning water, will continue flowing through our country’s landscape with a reservoir of other fine-tuned vodkas that could eventually steal away the crown from the Russians and Polish.