"Monopolowa" means "under monopoly", in this case referring to a privilege given to the szlachta (nobility) in Poland, giving them exclusive rights to produce and sell vodka in their territories.
Monopolowa was produced by J. A. Baczewski, a distillery founded by Jewish merchant, Lejb Beczeles, from 1782 until World War II.[1] After the war, Gessler, an Austrian company, bought the licence and the rights to production. In 1990, the Starogard Gdański based branch of Polmos, a privatized offshoot of the former state-owned monopoly, started to produce several of J.A. Baczewski's products under license from Altvater Gessler - J.A. Baczewski International (USA) Inc. However, in the late 1990s, that license was terminated and production in Poland was halted.
