The name of beer in Soviet times. Peculiarities of drinking beer in the Soviet Union

I first tried beer in 1961, when I was 8 years old: after going to the bathhouse, my father always bought me kvass and beer for himself, and one day he gave me a small sip.

At that time in Leningrad there were beer vending machines, which were popularly called “auto-drinkers”. But somehow they didn’t take root here, but in Moscow they were very common...
When I was young, beer was sold by the glass in special kiosks, and it was always one and only variety: “Zhigulevskoe,” which tastes very good! It was brought in tanks and poured into special containers with taps.
Drinking beer in the morning was not at all considered shameful then: by the evening there simply might not be any left. People lined up in huge queues, holding cans and string bags with three-liter jars. If you didn’t have your own container, you usually ordered a “large one with a trailer”: you drink a small mug for 11 kopecks in one gulp, and with a large one, for 22 kopecks, you step aside. It’s good if you have dried fish in your pocket.

By the way, no one stole the mugs, but during perestroika the kiosks sometimes didn’t have them at all, so they even poured them into bags, made a hole and drank through it.
In winter they sold heated beer - after all, they drank mostly on the street. The expression “front door restaurant” was in use: not everyone had their own place to live, and not every wife approved of her husband appearing on the doorstep with a can of beer.
You could go to drink beer in a cafe or restaurant, but there was only bottled beer, and draft beer was still valued more for its freshness: bottles were often found with sediment at the bottom. But there was a variety of varieties: Rizhskoe, Leningradskoe, Double Zolotoe, Barley Ear, dark Martovskoe and Porter... They sold bottled beer in grocery stores, but, again, it was not always possible to keep up with it.
That is why a real event was the opening of the “Beer” store on Kirovsky Prospekt in the mid-70s, where it was almost always sold.
The appearance of “beer halls” caused no less excitement - the very first was called “Zhiguli”, you could get there either through connections or by standing in a long line.

Beginning in 1973, beer bars began to open throughout Leningrad, the very first and legendary of which were “Pushkar” on Bolshaya Pushkarskaya, “Staraya Zastava” on Mira Square, and “Yantar” on the Karpovka River.
The very word “bar” was bewitching and enchanting for Soviet people. To get inside, you again had to stand in hated queues; those who knew doormen were luckier: for three rubles you could skip the line. Such establishments already had some kind of interior, as well as cute ceramic mugs.
Special beer snacks were a curiosity: straws, salty drying, mackerel, occasionally – small shrimp. Under the counter you could buy smoked bream or a pack of American cigarettes... The bars were visited mainly by young people: older generation remained in queues at the kiosks.
There were problems with entry, but not with prices: beer in the bar cost at most 10 kopecks more than on the street. We were sitting at the bar big companies and for a long time, they brought guitars with them and organized competitions: they drank beer to speed. One of my friends drank a half-liter mug in three seconds!..

The “White Horse” beer restaurant on Chkalovsky Prospekt also became a very fashionable establishment: here you could enjoy a full dinner with a glass of your favorite drink, but the main thing was to try Czech beer, for example real Pilsner. It cost 1 ruble, and “Zhiguli” cost 30 – 40 kopecks.
Things were so meager only for the Soviet citizen: for foreigners there was everything! I tried it early good varieties beer: in 1976 he joined Intourist. There I saw beer in a can for the first time, it was a whole little shock. And in 1982 I became a bartender in the currency bar of the Leningrad Hotel - there were draft Heineken, Tuborg, Carlsberg...
To be honest, draft domestic beer was not even close to them. The main world brands were represented in glass - both Warsteiner and Budweiser were already known then. It was different high quality m and Finnish beer is in great demand: Koff, Lapin Kulta, Karjala.
In addition to currency bars, imported beer was sold in the Beryozka store, but Soviet people were barred from going there: they were immediately taken out under white hands, and possession of currency equivalent to 25 rubles was already a criminal offense. There really was nowhere to buy overseas beer; the ubiquitous black marketeers and enterprising taxi drivers were somehow not keen on it. Only occasionally could Czech beer be snatched from the back doors of grocery stores.

Gorbachev’s anti-alcohol campaign, which began in 1985, hit beer lovers last. The bars didn’t close, and I don’t remember such a time when beer was not available at all, because low alcohol drinks then they were opposed to vodka and were considered more “noble”.
With the fall of the Iron Curtain, imported beer appeared in stores. Domestic factories began to produce drinks under license under well-known global brands, but in their own way taste qualities most of them, unfortunately, are inferior to the originals.
Intourist was gone, and in 1992 I started working as a bartender at the Nevskaya Melodiya nightclub, a Swedish-Russian enterprise. The assortment of beer there was impressive: more than 60 types of bottled beer, from American to Japanese, and Swedish draft - Spendrup’s, Falcon. My eyes just ran wild. Of the new establishments of that time, I would mention the Senate Bar: there I first saw a separate beer menu on 30 sheets.
At the end of the 90s, Baltika No. 7 on tap appeared, and imagine, it was in much greater demand among foreign guests than imported brands. Many private breweries have opened, because private entrepreneurship is finally allowed.
In the development of St. Petersburg as a “beer capital,” I think, the ineradicable spirit of our city, the desire to understand and adopt all the best, played an important role. In addition, St. Petersburg is not only a port city, but also a fishing city - and what other drink goes so well with fish?
The beer issue for the residents of the USSR was extremely serious!

Although in that country there was not an abundance of, as it is now called, “assortment”, but, more precisely, for the broad masses there was only “Zhigulevskoe”, yes - if you’re lucky! – “Rizhskoe” or “Martovskoe”, but they approached the very process of consuming the foamy drink thoroughly!
On weekends, the heads of teetotal families would certainly treat themselves to a bottle of Zhiguli after a bath or at dinner. Those who were simpler went down to the stalls, of which there were plenty in each microdistrict. This is where life was in full swing! All last news, political jokes, just stories - everything that was not discussed here!
They took two or three “large” ones at a time (if the queue was moderate and there was enough dishes), took out a wobbler from the bins, slowly tore off piece by piece from it, drank sedately for a long time, talked... In winter they certainly took “heated”, and the caring The sellers themselves asked the taciturn ones: “Do you need heating?” - cared about the health of the clientele!
Some desperate and frankly fallen elements immediately drank vodka, some poured it into mugs, but this is not an acquired taste! There was also a category of people at the stalls who liked to sit with inexpensive beer at home: they came with cans and cans.

I will never forget how, when I was still a student, my friends took a couple of cans from my house and went to such a kiosk. And what an honest saleswoman she turned out to be! Having already filled a third of the can, she suddenly fished out with her fingers a passbook and a bundle of banknotes that had floated from the bottom, saying: “What do you have?” How was I supposed to know that my mother kept her savings in containers that had never been used in our house? Thank God they dried...
There were also beer establishments in the USSR. Oh, this is a completely different category of vacation! Ordinary glass stalls were essentially not much different from stalls: almost the same thing, but “under a roof.” But beer restaurants...
There were several of these in St. Petersburg: “White Horse”, “Zhiguli”, “Neptune”, “Bug” on, respectively, Zhukovsky, another one, I don’t remember the name - on the corner of Mayakovsky and Nevsky... It was extremely difficult to get there, there were queues hefty, but if you hit...! The drinking process here was so long that they didn’t take less than “five” per nose. They sat for several hours straight, smoking, arguing...
I remember I had my own “trick”: in those years I went to Moscow quite often, and at the same time bought “Herzegovina Flor” cigarettes there, which for some reason were sold only in the capital. In such establishments, I would casually put a pack in front of me, and people would look at me with respect and understand that either he was from Moscow or had just come from there. Some – again, respectfully! – came up to “shoot”. Sometimes these were girls... Having drunk “five times”, sometimes they went around the second circle - here the amount of drink corresponded only to the capabilities of the individual’s body.
Many left on their own, some were led away by friends - not without that!

Yes, then there was no abundance, but only beer - “beer”, sausage - “sausage”, cheese - “cheese”... But, really, there was a lot of good stuff! They don't drink beer like that anymore! Maybe it’s a pity - after all, it was so good to talk about everything with beer, it brought people together in a way that rarely happened with vodka, because they drank a lot back then, and after 400-500 grams of vodka, the conversation is rarely coherent and positive.
So we can safely conclude this monologue with the assertion that beer largely cemented the community and unity of the family of Soviet peoples and even partly reconciled them with the shortcomings existing in the USSR!
The first brand of beer that comes to mind when talking about a foamy drink in Soviet time, this is, of course, “Zhigulevskoye”. This is truly a people's brand.
Despite a large number of Of the officially announced types of beer at that time, Zhigulevskoye was on free sale, only it was sold on tap.
Beer was not highly valued by Soviet citizens until the early 70s. Thus, the average resident of the USSR drank only 12-15 liters of beer per year, and during the same period of vodka he drank 7-8 liters. Since the country's authorities decided to fight widespread vodka alcoholism, they began to provide citizens with an alternative in the form of a foamy drink.

The end of the 60s was marked by the expansion of beer production. At that time, several large factories were built, which continue to brew beer today. As a result of these changes, vodka consumption in the country decreased slightly, but the so-called “beer alcoholism” became widespread. Cases of mixed “beer and vodka alcoholism” were also frequent.
In the USSR, beer could be bought either on tap or in glass containers. Price bottled beer was 45-65 kopecks. Moreover, since 1981, one bottle could be returned for 20 kopecks, which meant the opportunity to buy another bottle of beer if you returned three empty ones! But they preferred to drink bottled beer at home - at lunchtime on a weekend or after a bath.
The quality of the foamy drink often left much to be desired. Sometimes we came across beer with sediment at the bottom due to its short shelf life; often it could go bad without even reaching the store. For this reason, in each district or city, only beer produced at the nearest plant was always sold, because other types of beer presented in the USSR did not arrive in proper quality.
This situation provoked a lack of competition and, moreover, a shortage. So, on a hot summer day, not every store could purchase a much-desired bottle of cold beer.

Draft beer was valued primarily for its freshness. Although there were often cases when even this “fresh” beer had a pronounced sour taste. A beer stall with the option of buying beer to take away or drinking on site was present in every district.
The operating mode of such establishments was as follows: if there is beer in stock - it works, if they haven’t delivered it - there is an eloquent sign “No Beer”. Such stalls were usually not equipped with toilets, so all the neighboring courtyards and nooks smelled accordingly.
It was also possible to purchase beer from a barrel standing on the street similar to barrels of kvass.
Those citizens who did not want to enjoy foamy drink in the fresh air, went to pubs. There this product was offered for a higher price, but there was also a kind of unobtrusive service - mugs were removed from the tables for visitors, which were occasionally wiped with rags of dubious cleanliness.

What was the average pub like? This was most often a hall in which the smell of fumes and tobacco smoke was very clearly felt. The music was drowned out by the noisy conversations of visitors and the clinking of glass.
In such establishments they usually drank standing at high tables on one leg, with hangers under the tabletop. People preferred to take several glasses at once, then they laid out a ram or a roach on a newspaper and began to discuss various philosophical and political topics.
Alcoholics often poured vodka under the table, which they washed down with beer. There were also fans of mixing these two drinks, resulting in a “cocktail” called “ruff”. When beer mugs disappeared somewhere, people did not despair and drank their favorite drink from cans or bags. It was always customary to share fish.

There were restaurants and bars in the USSR, where beer was served in clean three-liter decanters by neat waiters with bow ties. This decanter cost five rubles. You could also order delicious snacks with beer, sometimes even boiled crayfish. However, it was very difficult to get into such establishments on a weekend. And resting there was completely different.
You could invite a girl to a restaurant or bar; smoking was most often not allowed there. The beer was not diluted then, although it was not topped up. Draft beer could also be ordered at sausage and kebab shops.
There were beer vending machines in the USSR, where 435 milliliters of beer were poured into a glass for 20 kopecks, but they were not popular. After all, people went to pubs not only for a foamy drink, but also for a special atmosphere.

1955 Automatic beer hall.
Canned beer was not produced in the USSR. The only exception was the experiment before the 1980 Olympics, then in the mid-70s they decided to try to put beer into production in tin cans.
It was called " Golden ring", the jar was sometimes decorated with the Aeroflot emblem. However, the idea did not justify itself, since the cost of the can turned out to be extremely high - 60 kopecks. Beer in cans spoiled just as quickly as in bottles, so at the end of the Olympics, the production of canned beer was stopped.
Few people remember that in those years there was beer brought from the fraternal countries of Poland and Czechoslovakia, but it was not often possible to get it. But in the Berezka stores there was a simply amazing selection for a Soviet person - eight varieties of foreign beer.

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Beer in the USSR - this is how they drank it

I love beer because it is a sociable drink, ideal for relaxing. It’s great to drink while fishing, after a bath, in a bar with friends, or at home in the kitchen on a busy day’s evening.

Beer in the USSR - this is how people stood in line for it

I first tried beer in 1961, when I was 8 years old: after going to the bathhouse, my father always bought me kvass and beer for himself, and one day he gave me a small sip. At that time in Leningrad there were beer vending machines, which were popularly called “auto-drinkers”. But somehow they didn’t take root here, but in Moscow they were very common.

When I was young, beer was sold by the glass in special kiosks, and it was always one and only variety: “Zhigulevskoe,” which tastes very good! It was brought in tanks and poured into special containers with taps. Drinking beer in the morning was not at all considered shameful then: by the evening there simply might not be any left. People lined up in huge lines, holding cans and string bags with three-liter cans. If you didn’t have your own container, you usually ordered a “large one with a trailer”: you drink a small mug for 11 kopecks in one gulp, and with a large one, for 22 kopecks, you step aside. It's good if you have dried fish in your pocket

By the way, no one stole the mugs, but during perestroika the kiosks sometimes didn’t have them at all, so they even poured them into bags, made a hole and drank through it.

They usually drank at a high table that stood not far from the beer stall.

Beer in the USSR - this is how they drank it

In winter they sold heated beer - after all, they drank mostly on the street. The expression “front door restaurant” was in use: not everyone had their own place to live, and not every wife approved of her husband appearing on the doorstep with a can of beer. You could go to drink beer in a cafe or restaurant, but there was only bottled beer, and draft beer was still valued more for its freshness: bottles were often found with sediment at the bottom. But there was a variety of varieties: Rizhskoe, Leningradskoe, Double Zolotoe, Barley Ear, dark Martovskoe and Porter... They sold bottled beer in grocery stores, but, again, it was not always possible to keep up with it.

That is why a real event was the opening of the “Beer” store on Kirovsky Prospekt in the mid-70s, where it was almost always sold.

No less excitement was caused by the appearance of “beer halls” - the very first was called “Zhiguli”, you could get there either through connections or by standing in a long line.

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Beginning in 1973, beer bars began to open throughout Leningrad, the very first and legendary of which were “Pushkar” on Bolshaya Pushkarskaya, “Staraya Zastava” on Mira Square, and “Yantar” on the Karpovka River. The very word “bar” was bewitching and enchanting for Soviet people. To get inside, you again had to stand in hated queues; those who knew doormen were luckier: for three rubles you could skip the line. Such establishments already had some kind of interior, as well as cute ceramic mugs.

Special beer snacks were a curiosity: straws, salted dryers, mackerel, and occasionally small shrimp. You could buy smoked bream or a pack of American cigarettes under the counter... The bars were visited mainly by young people: the older generation remained in queues at the kiosks. There were problems with entry, but not with prices: beer in the bar cost at most 10 kopecks more than on the street. Large groups sat at the bar for a long time, brought guitars with them, and organized competitions: they drank beer to speed. One of my friends drank a half-liter mug in three seconds!..

The “White Horse” beer restaurant on Chkalovsky Prospekt also became a very fashionable establishment: here you could enjoy a full dinner with a glass of your favorite drink, but the main thing was to try Czech beer, for example real Pilsner. It cost 1 ruble, and the Zhiguli cost 30–40 kopecks.

Things were so meager only for the Soviet citizen: for foreigners there was everything! I tried good beers early: in 1976 I started working at Intourist. There I saw beer in a can for the first time, it was a whole little shock. And in 1982, I became a bartender in the currency bar of the Leningrad Hotel - there were draft Heineken, Tuborg, Carlsberg... To be honest, draft domestic beer was not even close to them. The main world brands were represented in glass - both Warsteiner and Budweiser were already known then. It was different high quality and Finnish beer is in great demand: Koff, Lapin Kulta, Karjala.

In addition to currency bars, imported beer was sold in the Beryozka store, but Soviet people were barred from going there: they were immediately taken out under white hands, and possession of currency equivalent to 25 rubles was already a criminal offense. There really was nowhere to buy overseas beer; the ubiquitous black marketeers and enterprising taxi drivers were somehow not keen on it. Only occasionally could Czech beer be snatched from the back doors of grocery stores.

Gorbachev’s anti-alcohol campaign, which began in 1985, hit beer lovers last. The bars did not close, and I don’t remember such a time when beer was not available at all, because low-alcohol drinks were then opposed to vodka and were considered more “noble.” With the fall of the Iron Curtain, imported beer appeared in stores. Domestic factories began to produce drinks under license under well-known world brands, but in terms of taste, most of them, unfortunately, are inferior to the originals.

Intourist was gone, and in 1992 I started working as a bartender at the Nevskaya Melodiya nightclub, a Swedish-Russian enterprise. The assortment of beer there was impressive: more than 60 types of bottled beer, from American to Japanese, and Swedish draft - Spendrup’s, Falcon. My eyes just ran wild. Of the new establishments of that time, I would mention the Senate Bar: there I first saw a separate beer menu on 30 sheets.

At the end of the 90s, Baltika No. 7 on tap appeared, and imagine, it was in much greater demand among foreign guests than imported brands. Many private breweries have opened, because private entrepreneurship is finally allowed. Beer from local breweries is loved for its interesting flavors and freshness. I think I'm really strong famous brand Only “Vasileostrovskoe” became: having appeared in 2002, in bars it became a competitor even to such a giant as “Baltika”.

While working at Nevskaya Melody, I learned from my mentors about the existence of beer cocktails; the “Yellow Submarine” was very popular - a shot of Jagermeister liqueur is dropped into the bottom of a mug of beer. Beer with the addition of all kinds of syrups has become fashionable, and, contrary to the stereotype, such drinks are liked not only by women. We learned how pleasant it is to sip Sol or Corona Extra through a slice of lime in hot weather. At the first Irish pub in the city, “Mollie’s,” they were able to try not only national cuisine, but also real Irish ale Guinness. And the owners of the German brewery at the Pulkovskaya Hotel organized the first Russian Oktoberfest.

In the development of St. Petersburg as a “beer capital,” I think, the ineradicable spirit of our city, the desire to understand and adopt all the best, played an important role. In addition, St. Petersburg is not only a port city, but also a fishing city - and what other drink goes so well with fish?

The beer issue for the residents of the USSR was extremely serious!

On weekends, the heads of teetotal families would certainly treat themselves to a bottle of Zhiguli after a bath or at dinner. Those who were simpler went down to the stalls, of which there were plenty in each microdistrict. This is where life was in full swing! All the latest news, political jokes, just stories - everything that was not discussed here! They took two or three “large” ones at a time (if the queue was moderate and there was enough dishes), took out a wobbler from the bins, slowly tore off piece by piece from it, drank sedately for a long time, talked... In winter they certainly took “heated”, and the caring The sellers themselves asked the taciturn ones: “Do you need heating?” — cared about the health of the clientele! Some desperate and frankly fallen elements immediately drank vodka, some poured it into mugs, but this is not an acquired taste! There was also a category of people at the stalls who liked to sit with inexpensive beer at home: they came with cans and cans.

I will never forget how, when I was still a student, my friends took a couple of cans from my house and went to such a kiosk. And what an honest saleswoman she turned out to be! Having already filled a third of the can, she suddenly fished out with her fingers a passbook and a bundle of banknotes that had floated from the bottom, saying: “What do you have?” How was I supposed to know that my mother kept her savings in containers that had never been used in our house? Thank God they dried...

There were also beer establishments in the USSR. Oh, this is a completely different category of vacation! Ordinary glass stalls were essentially not much different from stalls: almost the same thing, but “under a roof.” But beer restaurants... There were several of these in St. Petersburg: “White Horse”, “Zhiguli”, “Neptune”, “Zhuchok” on, respectively, Zhukovsky, another one, I don’t remember the name - on the corner of Mayakovsky and Nevsky... It was easy to get there extremely difficult, there were long queues, but if you got in...! The drinking process here was so long that they didn’t take less than “five” per nose. They sat for several hours straight, smoking, arguing...

I remember I had my own “trick”: in those years I went to Moscow quite often, and at the same time bought “Herzegovina Flor” cigarettes there, which for some reason were sold only in the capital. In such establishments, I would casually put a pack in front of me, and people would look at me with respect and understand that either he was from Moscow or had just come from there. Some – again, respectfully! – came up to “shoot”. Sometimes these were girls... Having drunk “five times”, sometimes they went around the second circle - here the amount of drink corresponded only to the capabilities of the individual’s body.

Many left on their own, some were led away by friends - not without that!

Yes, then there was no abundance, but only beer - “beer”, sausage - “sausage”, cheese - “cheese”... But, really, there was a lot of good stuff! They don't drink beer like that anymore! Maybe it’s a pity - after all, it was so good to talk about everything with beer, it brought people together in a way that rarely happened with vodka, because they drank a lot back then, and after 400-500 grams of vodka, the conversation is rarely coherent and positive.

So we can safely conclude this monologue with the assertion that beer largely cemented the community and unity of the family of Soviet peoples and even partly reconciled them with the shortcomings existing in the USSR!

The first brand of beer that comes to mind when talking about a foamy drink in Soviet times is, of course, Zhigulevskoye. This is truly a people's brand.

Despite the large number of officially announced beer varieties at that time, it was Zhigulevskoe that was on free sale, only it was sold on tap.

Beer was not highly valued by Soviet citizens until the early 70s. Thus, the average resident of the USSR drank only 12-15 liters of beer per year, and during the same period of vodka he drank 7-8 liters. Since the country's authorities decided to fight widespread vodka alcoholism, they began to provide citizens with an alternative in the form of a foamy drink.

The end of the 60s was marked by the expansion of beer production. At that time, several large factories were built, which continue to brew beer today. As a result of these changes, vodka consumption in the country decreased slightly, but the so-called “beer alcoholism” became widespread. Cases of mixed “beer and vodka alcoholism” were also frequent.

In the USSR, beer could be bought either on tap or in glass containers. The cost of bottled beer was 45-65 kopecks. Moreover, since 1981, one bottle could be returned for 20 kopecks, which meant the opportunity to buy another bottle of beer if you returned three empty ones! But they preferred to drink bottled beer at home - at lunchtime on a weekend or after a bath.

The quality of the foamy drink often left much to be desired. Sometimes we came across beer with sediment at the bottom due to its short shelf life; often it could go bad without even reaching the store. For this reason, in each district or city, only beer produced at the nearest plant was always sold, because other types of beer presented in the USSR did not arrive in proper quality. This situation provoked a lack of competition and, moreover, a shortage. So, on a hot summer day, not every store could purchase a much-desired bottle of cold beer.

Draft beer was valued primarily for its freshness. Although there were often cases when even this “fresh” beer had a pronounced sour taste.

A beer stall with the option of buying beer to take away or drinking on site was present in every district. The operating mode of such establishments was as follows: if there is beer in stock - it works, if they haven’t delivered it - there is an eloquent sign “No Beer”. Such stalls were usually not equipped with toilets, so all the neighboring courtyards and nooks smelled accordingly.

It was also possible to purchase beer from a barrel standing on the street similar to barrels of kvass.

Those citizens who did not want to enjoy a foamy drink in the fresh air went to beer houses. There, this product was offered for a higher price, but there was also a kind of unobtrusive service - mugs were removed from the tables for visitors, which were occasionally wiped with rags of dubious cleanliness.

What was the average pub like? This was most often a hall in which the smell of fumes and tobacco smoke was very clearly felt. The music was drowned out by the noisy conversations of visitors and the clinking of glass. In such establishments they usually drank standing at high tables on one leg, with hangers under the tabletop. People preferred to take several glasses at once, then they laid out a ram or a roach on a newspaper and began to discuss various philosophical and political topics.

Alcoholics often poured vodka under the table, which they washed down with beer. There were also fans of mixing these two drinks, resulting in a “cocktail” called “ruff”. When beer mugs disappeared somewhere, people did not despair and drank their favorite drink from cans or bags. It was always customary to share fish.

There were restaurants and bars in the USSR, where beer was served in clean three-liter decanters by neat waiters with bow ties. This decanter cost five rubles. You could also order delicious snacks to go with your beer, sometimes even boiled crayfish. However, it was very difficult to get into such establishments on a weekend. And resting there was completely different. You could invite a girl to a restaurant or bar; smoking was most often not allowed there. The beer was not diluted then, although it was not topped up. Draft beer could also be ordered at sausage and kebab shops.

There were beer vending machines in the USSR, where 435 milliliters of beer were poured into a glass for 20 kopecks, but they were not popular. After all, people went to pubs not only for a foamy drink, but also for a special atmosphere.

Canned beer was not produced in the USSR. The only exception was the experiment before the 1980 Olympics, when in the mid-70s they decided to try to produce beer in cans. It was called the “Golden Ring”; the jar was sometimes decorated with the Aeroflot emblem. However, the idea did not justify itself, since the cost of the can turned out to be extremely high - 60 kopecks. Beer in cans spoiled just as quickly as in bottles, so at the end of the Olympics, the production of canned beer was stopped.

Few people remember that in those years there was beer brought from the fraternal countries of Poland and Czechoslovakia, but it was not often possible to get it. But in the Berezka stores there was a simply amazing selection for a Soviet person - eight varieties of foreign beer.

About the peculiarities of beer consumption in Leningrad in the second half of the twentieth century.

I love beer because it is a sociable drink, ideal for relaxing. It’s great to drink while fishing, after a bath, in a bar with friends, or at home in the kitchen on a busy day’s evening.

I first tried beer in 1961, when I was 8 years old: after going to the bathhouse, my father always bought me kvass and beer for himself, and one day he gave me a small sip. At that time in Leningrad there were beer vending machines, which were popularly called “auto-drinkers”. But somehow they didn’t take root here, but in Moscow they were very common.

By the way, no one stole the mugs, but during perestroika the kiosks sometimes didn’t have them at all, so they even poured them into bags, made a hole and drank through it.

That is why a real event was the opening of the “Beer” store on Kirovsky Prospekt in the mid-70s, where it was almost always sold.

The appearance of “beer halls” caused no less excitement - the very first was called “Zhiguli”, you could get there either through connections or by standing in a long line.

Beginning in 1973, beer bars began to open throughout Leningrad, the very first and legendary of which were “Pushkar” on Bolshaya Pushkarskaya, “Staraya Zastava” on Mira Square, and “Yantar” on the Karpovka River. The very word “bar” was bewitching and enchanting for Soviet people. To get inside, you again had to stand in hated queues; those who knew doormen were luckier: for three rubles you could skip the line. Such establishments already had some kind of interior, as well as cute ceramic mugs.

Things were so meager only for the Soviet citizen: for foreigners there was everything! I tried good beers early: in 1976 I started working at Intourist. There I saw beer in a can for the first time, it was a whole little shock. And in 1982, I became a bartender in the currency bar of the Leningrad Hotel - there were draft Heineken, Tuborg, Carlsberg... To be honest, draft domestic beer was not even close to them. The main world brands were represented in glass - both Warsteiner and Budweiser were already known then. Finnish beer was distinguished by its high quality and great demand: Koff, Lapin Kulta, Karjala.

At the end of the 90s, Baltika No. 7 on tap appeared, and imagine, it was in much greater demand among foreign guests than imported brands. Many private breweries have opened, because private entrepreneurship is finally allowed. Beer from local breweries is loved for its interesting flavors and freshness. I think that only Vasileostrovskoe has become a truly strong, well-known brand: having appeared in 2002, it became a competitor in bars even to such a giant as Baltika.

While working at Nevskaya Melody, I learned from my mentors about the existence of beer cocktails; the “Yellow Submarine” was very popular - a shot of Jagermeister liqueur is dropped into the bottom of a mug of beer. Beer with the addition of all kinds of syrups has become fashionable, and, contrary to the stereotype, such drinks are liked not only by women. We learned how pleasant it is to sip Sol or Corona Extra through a slice of lime in hot weather. In the city’s first Irish pub, “Mollie’s,” they were able to try not only national cuisine, but also real Irish ale Guinness. And the owners of the German brewery at the Pulkovskaya Hotel organized the first Russian Oktoberfest.

The beer issue for the residents of the USSR was extremely serious!

Although in that country there was not an abundance of, as it is now called, “assortment”, but, more precisely, for the broad masses there was only “Zhigulevskoe”, yes - if you’re lucky! – “Rizhskoe” or “Martovskoe”, but they approached the very process of consuming the foamy drink thoroughly!
On weekends, the heads of teetotal families would certainly treat themselves to a bottle of Zhiguli after a bath or at dinner. Those who were simpler went down to the stalls, of which there were plenty in each microdistrict. This is where life was in full swing! All the latest news, political jokes, just stories - everything that was not discussed here! They took two or three “large” ones at a time (if the queue was moderate and there was enough dishes), took out a wobbler from the bins, slowly tore off piece by piece from it, drank sedately for a long time, talked... In winter they certainly took “heated”, and the caring The sellers themselves asked the taciturn ones: “Do you need heating?” - cared about the health of the clientele! Some desperate and frankly fallen elements immediately drank vodka, some poured it into mugs, but this is not an acquired taste! There was also a category of people at the stalls who liked to sit with inexpensive beer at home: they came with cans and cans.

The first brand of beer that comes to mind when talking about a foamy drink in Soviet times is, of course, Zhigulevskoye. This is truly a people's brand.

Despite the large number of officially announced beer varieties at that time, it was Zhigulevskoe that was on free sale, only it was sold on tap.

Draft beer was valued primarily for its freshness. Although there were often cases when even this “fresh” beer had a pronounced sour taste. A beer stall with the option of buying beer to take away or drinking on site was present in every district. The operating mode of such establishments was as follows: if there is beer in stock - it works, if they haven’t delivered it - there is an eloquent sign “No Beer”. Such stalls were usually not equipped with toilets, so all the neighboring courtyards and nooks smelled accordingly.

It was also possible to purchase beer from a barrel standing on the street similar to barrels of kvass.

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Official date of birth Soviet beer, although, more precisely, also beer of the RSFSR, since the USSR was created a little later, the date can be considered February 3, 1922, when the decree “On excise tax on beer, honey, kvass, fruit and artificial mineral waters” was signed.

This time coincided with the deployment of the NEP, when some freedom was given to private enterprise, expressed in the fact that in addition to nationalized breweries Quite a few rented ones arose - usually by former owners and brewers.

What kind of beer was brewed at that time? The same varieties as before the revolution. These are pro-German brands: “Bavarian”, dark “Munich”, “Kulmbach”, “Export”, strong “Bok”; Austrian and Czech stamps (the Czech Republic was part of Austria-Hungary before the First World War): “Viennese”, “Bohemian”, classic “Pilsen” and its denser, “export” versions (“Extra-Pilsen”). In the traditions of English brewing, dark thick porter and light pale ale were brewed. “Stolovoe”, dark “Martovskoe” were very popular (most likely due to its low density, and therefore low cost), and some independent Russian brands also survived, although they also arose under the influence of Western European brewing: “Cabinetnoye”, “ Double gold label." The only original Russian type of beer is “Black”, as well as its version “Black Velvet”. This type of beer was not fully fermented, just like traditional Russian kvass. Despite its high density, it had a very low strength and was almost unknown in Europe.

By the end of the 1920s, the NEP began to be curtailed, private traders were squeezed out of brewing production, the first OST for beer was introduced (OST 61-27), which was mandatory only for large state-owned factories (at the same time it did not prohibit the brewing of other varieties). According to this OST, it was proposed to produce four types of beer: “Light No. 1” - close to the Pilsner style, “Light No. 2” - close to the Viennese style, “Dark” - close to the Munich style and “Black” - traditionally Russian, fermented with top yeast and having strength is 1% alcohol, like kvass.

1930s

By the mid-1930s, active work was underway on new OSTs; they wanted to expand the varietal diversity, moreover, towards Western European traditional brands (“Vienna”, “Pilsen”, “Munich”). At that time, the main thing in determining the style of beer was malt - for “Pilsner” beer they used light “Pilsner” malt, for “Vienna” - more roasted and therefore darker “Viennese”, for “Munich” - dark “Munich” malt. The water was also taken into account - for the Pilsensky it had to be especially soft, for the Munich it had to be harder. But as a result, beer under other names was included in the OST, which is usually associated with a well-known legend - about the victory of the beer “Venskoye” of the Zhigulevsky plant at the beer competition at VDNKh and Mikoyan’s proposal to use the name of the plant - “Zhigulevskoye” instead of the “bourgeois” name “Venskoye” . Be that as it may, both malt and beer were renamed.
Malt began to be divided according to color into three types: “Russian” (formerly “Pilsner”), “Zhigulevsky” (formerly “Viennese”), Ukrainian (formerly “Munich”), and the beer was renamed accordingly - “Russkoe”, “Zhigulevskoe” ", "Ukrainian". The names were given in honor of the largest state-owned factories: “Zhigulevskoe” - the Zhigulevsky plant in Kuibyshev (Samara), “Russkoe” - the Rostov-on-Don plant, “Moskovskoe” - Moscow enterprises, “Ukrainskoe” - the factories of Odessa and Kharkov. Other varieties were also included in OST 350-38 under their old name (since there was nothing “bourgeois” in their name): this is “Porter”, which was fermented according to the English tradition by top fermentation, a very dense, heavily hopped type of beer with wine and caramel taste. And besides it, “Martovskoye” and “Caramelnoye” (the successor to “Cherny”) are dark, unfermented beer with 1.5% alcohol, which was recommended for use even by children and nursing mothers. These eight varieties, with some changes, existed until the collapse of the USSR, and some survived it, so we will dwell on them in more detail.

In addition, new varieties were being developed, primarily elite ones. Thus, by 1939, the Moscow premium" and "Stolichnoe". This light variety became the strongest (and after the war, when the density value was increased to 23%, the densest) variety in the USSR. "Kyiv" - a type of beer with wheat malt, albeit of bottom (lager) fermentation. They brewed “Soyuznoye” and “Polyarnoye”, which duplicated another variety, “Moskovskoye”, and therefore were discontinued. A variety in the style of ale was also developed, but the beginning of the Great Patriotic War stopped all work in this direction.

Post-war period

Already in 1944, after the liberation of Riga, the “Rizhskoe” variety was put into production, which duplicated “Russkoe” and in GOST 3478-46 replaced this variety (now Riga was not a “bourgeois” city and the name “Rizhskoe” could be used ). The remaining varieties have been preserved in GOST. From that time on, with rare exceptions, all beer in the USSR was produced using technology bottom fermentation(lager), and the wort was mashed in the Czech-German tradition using the decoction method. The restoration of the economy destroyed by the war began. During the 1930s, beer production in the USSR tripled, but in 1946 it was less than half of the production in 1940. The lion's share of beer was sold on tap (as before the war, although in the Russian Empire everything was the other way around), little bottled beer was produced, and the Baltic states were in the lead in this matter. The main volume of beer was of the Zhigulevskoe variety, in in some cases it occupied up to 90% of the total volume of beer produced.
Serious changes occurred only during the Khrushchev Thaw. At that time, various administrative and economic reassignments were carried out in the country, and instead of GOST, republican standards for beer were introduced, which greatly increased the number of varieties of Soviet beer. Many large factories introduced their own VTU (temporary technical specifications) and began to brew signature varieties. The quantitative diversity far exceeded a hundred varieties. In addition to the RSFSR, there were especially many varieties in the Ukrainian SSR, BSSR, and the Baltic states - they usually bore the names of republics, historical regions, capitals and cities with brewing traditions. At the same time, unmalted materials began to be introduced to a very wide extent in brewing. This allowed for the creation of different flavor profiles - barley, rice, corn, soy, wheat, various types sugar - which became an integral part of the recipe of Soviet beer. In the late 1950s - early 1960s, factories for the production of enzyme preparations were opened in Zaporozhye and Lvov, which made it possible to increase the amount of unmalted products used to 30–50% (primarily in Zhigulevsky).
Here are some of the most interesting varieties that began to be produced at that time: “Taiga” and “Magadanskoe” were produced using pine needle extract, and the Estonian “Kadaka” - with juniper, “Pereyaslavskoe” and “Romenskoe Prazhdnoe” - with honey, and “Lyubitelskoe” » - with 50% unmalted wheat. Some plants were real generators of new varieties. Under the leadership of G.P. Dyumler, “Isetskoe” beer was created at the Isetsky plant, the prototype of which was German bock (this variety is still brewed to this day). “Uralskoe” also appeared - dense, dark and wine variety beer and “Sverdlovskoe” - a highly fermented light beer, the forerunner of the varieties that we drink now.

They tried to completely ferment beer in the USSR, but the technologies of that time (primarily the yeast races used) did not allow this, so with the same initial density, Soviet beer varieties were always less strong than modern ones - and this was despite very significant periods of fermentation for Soviet beer. up to 100 days, like Stolichny. In Moscow, they revived the pre-revolutionary “Double Gold Label” under the name “Double Gold”, a little later they began to brew dense light “Our Mark” and “Moskvoretskoye”, dense dark “Ostankinskoye”. In Khamovniki they brewed “Light” beer in the traditional Russian style of unfermented kvass.
In Ukraine, the Lvov plant (with several versions of “Lvovsky”), the Kyiv factories (several versions of “Kievsky”) and some others stood out. The Baltics remained the last island of pure malt beer; several varieties were brewed there (for example, the Senchu variety actually repeated the recipe of Zhigulevsky, but only from pure malt). Throughout the Union, the only mass-produced pure malt variety was “Rizhskoye”. But closer to the 1970s, they began to introduce “Slavyanskoe” to replace it. From the mid-1960s, bottled beer began to dominate over draft beer; it was usually not pasteurized, and its shelf life was around seven days. But in reality, the shelf life did not reach even three days, since breweries could afford it - the beer did not sit on the shelves. “Zhigulevsky” (“Viennese”) malt disappeared from the latest GOST standards for malt, and “Zhigulevskoye” lost its “Viennese” character, and due to the significant amount of unmalted products and a reduction in fermentation time to 14 and even 11 days the variety has become the most unassuming.

1970–1990s

In the 1970s, such famous brands beer, such as “Admiralteyskoye”, “Donskoye Cossack”, “Petrovskoye”, “Barley Ear”, “Klinskoye”, many of them survived to today. The varieties “Lyubitelskoe” and “Stolichnoe” continued the trend towards highly fermented modern varieties. In the 1980s, new varieties continued to appear constantly (oddly enough, anti-alcohol company 1985 even stimulated their appearance, especially low-alcohol ones), there were exceptionally many of them by 1990, although many of these varieties can already be attributed to the period of independence of the republics of the former USSR. At that time, “Tverskoye”, “Bouquet of Chuvashia”, “Vityaz”, “Chernigovskoye” appeared, but this needs a different conversation. In total, during the existence of the USSR (from 1922 to 1991), approximately 350 types of beer were brewed.