It's Hard To Appreciate Beer When You're Already Drunk...

Rather unsurprisingly, not much emphasis is placed on beer in Russia as it is in other European or Asian countries. This is obviously due to the fact that liter for liter, Russians drink more vodka than they do beer each year. And when the former is eight times more alcoholic than the latter, you can understand why beer (and definitely nothing else) is of any real importance. On average, each Russian of legal age drinks a five liters of vodka and four liters of beer. To put that into perspective, the alcohol in the half of the extra liter of vodka equates to the amount of alcohol of the four liters of beer that the average Russian drinks each year. And yes, the Russians like getting drunk. More to the point, however, is the fact that the most popular beers in Russia are strong Ales, which are typically 6-10% abv.

Still, beer is enjoyed by many in the cold north and each region of the country has its own brewery, which locals tend to be very fond of. Russians sort their beer by the appearance (light/red/semi-dark/dark) rather than the brewing process (similar to they way the Spanish categorize their beer. Beer is also believed to be a healthier alternative to traditional Vodka, which is generally sipped during meals like water. Only a few breweries and microbreweries exist, and beer consumption is decreasing by the year, but smaller breweries are gaining in marketshare and sales volume. So hopefully, the Russians aren't saying goodbye to quality beer anytime soon... or should we say, dasvidaniya, bitches.

Budem zdorovy.

Rated Russian Beers


3-08-13 - Baltika #4 Original Dark Lager - 2.72, Euro Dark Lager, 5.60%

Popular Beer Styles in Russia

  • Strong Ales
  • "Light" Lager
  • Red Lager

    • Russian Breweries with Rated Beer

  • Baltika Breweries - St. Petersburg, Russia