Russian brewing situation

[stronk]

This is not urgent, but I'm wondering if I can try to tap the accumulated knowledge of the forum and find out about the general brewing situation in Russia.

The sort of things I would like to know are:

Are there many microbreweries?
Are there any dominating brewers in the market?
Is there any international interest in buying Russian breweries/brewers?
How much of the beer in Russia is imported (or brewed under contract by Russian breweries for the likes of Heineken and Carlsburg, etc.)?

If anyone can help me with any of this, I'd be very grateful.

[Neill]

Here in Israel there are a few Russian beers sold at the super markets, cans and bottle, (as well as some dodgy vodkas that taste like ethanol). There's a large Russian community here about 2 million in a country of 6 mill.
To be honest I never tried any, they all seem to be lagers, I could down a couple I suppose, for the interest of research only, if you like.

No information on your other queries.

Bye

[chazwicke]

There are some bottled Russian beers that make it to the states. I have tried a couple. There is a specialty store that sells stuff from Russia and the Baltic countries. I once attended a tasting of Latvian beer Aldaris (sp) at the brickskeller that was jointly hosted by the Latvian Embassy and many from the Latvian community attended. Was an interesting night. They were trying to break into the American market. I believe that I still have a glass from the tasting.

[stronk]

Wow! Russian beer going the other way? They're before their time, I'll wager (from what I have read so far).

Thanks for the replys, guys. I'll keep looking.

[ontap78]

I too am interested in the Russian beer situation. I'm heading there this saturday on our first visit for international adoption.Our first trip is a dizzying paced whirlwind trip with little time for checking out the beer scene. In fact we don't want to look like people who booze it up .They have a lot of problems with alcoholism over there and on our first trip we'll be with a lot of adoption agency people who probably have a low opinion of people who drink.I'll probably visit our hotel bar in Moscow while we're there but with the language barrier I won't know how to find out what beers are good and what beers are junk.At least we have a day layover in Amsterdam on our way home.

Our second trip should be different since we will be there for ten days and we plan to travel around Russia a bit.

A friend bought me a Russian beer a couple weeks ago and it was a bit skunky, but who knows how long it was at the beer store.Otherwise for a pale lager it seemed to be quite hoppy and I like hoppy.A fresh one in Russia probably wouldn't be all that bad.

[chazwicke]

Good luck with your adoption.

[newportstorm]

I've enjoyed the Baltika #6 (porter) before. Readily available here in the states for under $2/bottle. Haven't ventured to trying Baltika's other products, yet.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/rate_results/401/4694/latest/0/michiganmiked/

Cheers!

[ontap78]

Well we're back from Russia and I have little to say about there beer situation other than it's all very pilnerish, as I suspected.I can't read cyrillic so I don't know what these beers I drank were called. All I know is the only one I enjoyed while I was there and that was called Guinness Stout.Something familiar in a very strange world.We did get to the Gollum in Amsterdam on our way home which was very cool.The place boasts 200 different Belgian beers and it's only about 15x25 feet in size. The walls are lined with chalk boards listing there different beers( which, I must confess, I only heard of about 2 dozen of them). I had a Rodenbach Grand Cru (nice and sour) and my wife had a Chimay Wit (very good).She isn't a beer drinker, but she humors my obsession so I got to drink most of the Chimay also.If you're ever in Amsterdam, do yourself a favor and check out the Gollum.It's tiny but they make it up with an awesome selection at a silly price (7.50 euros for both beers in nice goblets). I only wish we would have had more time time to spend in Amsterdam.I could have spent a whole day at Gollum.I should reword that and say days.It's incredible!

[mlsuggs]

Okay, since I've opened this can-o'-worms in another topic/thread, I'll address it here...

Baltika. Love it or hate it, it's probably the biggest beer-producer in Russia. They supply most of the other FSU countries, as well. Their main "brands" are numbered 0-10, plus they've a few others. I'll address the numbered ones here, then go on to other FSU stuff...

0: Non-alcoholic. What more need be said...
1: Light. 4.4%abv. The lightest thing about this, really, is its color. Pilsnerish.
2. "Special." I haven't had #2; it's supposedly no longer available. One website claims that it was a "party mix" that had a cherry-flavored, a lemon-flavored, an orange-flavored, and a coffee-flavored beer.
3. Classic. 4.8%abv. My second favorite of the lot. Fairly ubiquitous in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Again, pilsnerish.
4. Original/Dark. 5.2%abv. Darker, yes, but not quite to 'porter' levels. A little more caramelly-malty, but still tastes very pilsnerish.
5. Gold. 5.2%abv. Rather like the Classic, but a touch darker. I've only ever seen #5 in a can.
6. Porter. 7.0%abv. Best of the lot, IMHO. Darker, richer flavor.
7. Export. 5.4%abv. Another pilsner. Yawn.
8. Wheat. 5.0%abv. Unfiltered. I'm generally not a huge fan of wheat beers, and this one (IMO) is poorer than most.
9. Strong. 8.0%abv. About the color of the #3. Whatever else can be said of it, it's strong. Not especially balanced, though--it needs a bit more maltiness.
10. Jubilee. 5.2%abv. Brewed for their anniversary. Again, I haven't had this one.

By and large, the Baltikas that I've had have been very pilsner-ish in flavor, regardless of the #. Minor differences in maltiness, and regrettably little in the way of hop aroma. (They seem to have gone for bittering.)

Other FSU brews I've had:

Pulsar (Uzbek). Ahem. Malty-cidery, with paint thinner and gasoline notes. Hops had been passed over the brew-kettle at one point--beyond which, the majority of the hops associated with this beer were printed on the label.

Kazbegi (Georgian). One of three 'native' Georgian beers. This is the BMC-equivalent in Georgia, and is roughly like past-its-peak Heineken in a new bottle.

Argo (Georgian). The second of the Georgian Trilogy. This one is more like at-its-peak Heineken.

Topadze (Georgian). And the third one. Better than Argo, but not by a whole lot. Extremely hard to find, even in Georgia--but compared to the alternatives, worth the search.

Three Bears (Tri Medvedi - Russian). Ick. All I can say.

Old Miller (Staryy Melnik - Russian). Palatable. Pilsner.

Bochkarev (Russian). Pilsner.

Nevskoye (Russian). Pilsner.

Tinkoff (Russian). Pilsner.

Golden Barrel (Zolotaya Bochka - Russian). Pilnser.

The last five, to my taste, were nearly identical. Three Bears is probably similar, and I just got a bad bottle... There're others, I'm sure, which I'm forgetting--but nothing really stands out, to my mind. Have I had good beers in Russia/the FSU? Yes--Guinness (at $10/pint). Harp. Velvet (Czech - pilsner-colored, Guinness-flavored, nitrogenated; wow!). A couple of others.

If one finds one's way to Georgia, do not, under any circumstances, do without the wine. They do it best, IMO. Recommended: Saperavi (just 'cause you've gotta), Alasani Valley, Kindzmarauli, and Khvanchkara. The Alasani and the Khvanchkara are my favorites--semi-sweet white and red, respectively. Yummy.

My $.02. YMMV.

--Misha

[mlsuggs]

I come off rather harshly on the Baltikas. Don't get me wrong, they're fundamentally OK brews, but there's too much similarity between them. I expect my Porters to be *significantly* different from my Lights--but the overall Baltika flavor profile is the same, with the Porter being (basically) stronger than the Light.

Still, given a choice between a #9 and a Heineken, I'll pick the 9.

--Misha

[hops99]

I just brought the 4, 6, and 9 into my store. I'm looking forward to trying each of them, although I noticed that the BA reviews for Baltika are pretty weak.

[guildofevil]

I have tried Baltika 5, 6 and 9 and I must say that I loved the porter (6) but the others left me underwhelmed.

Has anyone encountered Ukrainian beers? I had one from Kiev at one stage and it was so bad that I poured 2/3 of it down the sink.

Séan

[chazwicke]

Originally posted by hops99
I just brought the 4, 6, and 9 into my store. I'm looking forward to trying each of them, although I noticed that the BA reviews for Baltika are pretty weak.

We can get them in my area. I have tried one or two in the past. I was not bowled over.