Posted on 07/21/2011 3:52:52 PM PDT by varyouga
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has signed a bill that officially classifies beer as alcoholic. Until now anything containing less than 10% alcohol in Russia has been considered a foodstuff.
The move, signed into law on Wednesday, will allow ministers to control the sale of beer in the same way that spirits are controlled. Russian alcohol consumption is already twice the critical level set by the World Health Organization.
Although vodka has long been the traditional tipple in Russia, beer has soared in popularity, being marketed as a healthier alternative to spirits.
Over the past decade, beer sales in Russia have risen more than 40% while vodka sales have fallen by nearly 30%.
Correspondents say it is common to see people swigging beer in the street and in parks as if they are drinking soft drinks.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
Is kvass still a foodstuff?
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Since the demise of the Soviet Union I never could find kvass anywhere. The big yellow industrial tank trucks that distributed that stuff are long gone. There -have- to be some holdouts out there who still produce and consume it, but I could not find them.
“Obama would love to be a Communist dictator, but the fact of the matter is that he’d probably find a way to screw that up too.”
He and his whole team of ideological kooks, odds and sods would end up briefly in show trials, then for a long time in lime pits. They would be sent there by someone who was a retro-warlord who used the buzzwords, but had zero belief in ‘The Fairytales of Marx and Engels’.
Interesting.
Perhaps an opportunity for someone to fill a nostalgia niche?
ROTFLMAO!! That was great!
Stella Artois?
Russians have a saying: "nonalcoholic beer is the man's first step to inflatable woman".
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