Is Russian beer that bad?
This story happened to the author of this blog, so everything written below is quite subjective.
Anyway, I went to visit friends in Berlin. And I've found a Russian store named guess how — "Russia".
Store "Russia" Stuttgarter Pl. 36, 10627 Berlin The Russian grocery store "Russia" is located in Berlin's Charlotteburg district and is open 24 hours a day.
This store looks like a machine not only of time but of space - it feels like I was thrown back to the Russian provinces, such a real country store, even 20 years ago.
Eh, nostalgia – even though I am not that old yet. Still It's such a special place - the quintessence of everything Russian, including Tetya Galya, who in the cafe nearby to the store berates our government while her husband eating shashlik with Baltika beer - still the most famous Russian beer abroad.
And then I thought, what if my friends from Berlin taste a Russian beer? What would they say?
And I was expecting the following reaction:
- "Ew, what a disgusting thing you brought us, we're in Germany, the beer heart of the world and this universe." Very often, friends, there's an opinion that Russian beer (how shall I put it gently) is awful against the background of German, Czech, British, and any foreign beer in general.
But still I’ve decided to give this experiment a chance.
So, I have chosen the basis of the basics of Russian brewing - the company Baltika
Zhigulevskoye highest grade
Baltika 7 premium
Baltika non-filtered wheat ale
Prices - about the same as the average German beer - 1.5 euros per bottle. In Russia it would cost about 1 euro, so the difference is not critical.
First we tasted Zhigulevskoye. And I was already anticipating how after the first sip my friend was going to say: "No thank you, leave it to your russian gopniks".
But no! He liked it! (And he, believe me, knows a lot about beer).
"Good lager, full-bodied. But the same German beer will cost cheaper so it makes no sense for me personally to buy this beer, but in general it is tasty". Baltika 7 received the same rating.
But then my friend was really delighted with the non-filtered wheat ale Baltika!
"An excellent unfiltered ale, very mild taste. And even 1.7 Euro for the bottle - it's worth it. The German equivalent of this beer would cost more!" So not all Russian beer is so bad, if even in Germany it was appreciated. Next time I'll continue the experiment :)
