VODKA AND TONIC: - 50 g of vodka and 150
g of sprite. Garnish with a lime wedge
VODKA CHILLER: 50 of vodka and 150 g of ginger ale. Garnish
with a lime wedge
SCREWDRIVER: 50 g of Russian vodka and orange juice
MADRAS 50 g of Russian vodka , 100 g of cranberry juice,
50 g of grape juice
Visit St. Petersburg's Museum of Vodka
There is hardly a person in the multilingual world that surrounds
us who, if Russia is mentioned to him, will not think of vodka.
Of course, it is one of the many symbols of our country, such
as nestling dolls, caviar and brown bear…
The vodka association is absolutely normal, natural and
correct, for this drink has long been an indispensable part
of Russian life; a necessary element of the most important
events in our life, for example, weddings, departures on a
long trip, birth of a human being, or a funeral repast. In
late modern Russian history, there was a period of time when
a bottle of vodka became a kind of national currency, which
was used to pay for all sorts of small services, and this
way of payment was preferable to cash payments. Also, in the
beginning of the 1920's during a serious financial crisis
when there was a shortage of monetary units, vodka labels
served as cash in Siberia! This drink also plays a significant
role in the Russian language and folklore. In other words,
vodka is an important component of Russian life, an element
of national identity and everyday culture.
Unfortunately, the centuries long history of this alcoholic
drink, which includes many bright and sometimes dramatic episodes,
has not been well studied. In many countries of the world
museums dedicated to traditional national drinks opened a
long time ago. For instance, there is a museum of cognac in
France, museums of beer in Germany and Czech Republic. In
Russia, which, unfortunately, always had problems with historical
memory, there had been no museum of vodka. In St. Petersburg
(which is about to celebrate its 300th anniversary and rightfully
bears the name of the city of museums) there are museums devoted
to dolls, railway transportation, banking, political police,
even gramophones and phonographs and now…the Museum of Russian
Vodka. This one and only vodka museum in Russia and in the
whole world opened on the Day of the City, May 27, 2001, in
the heart of St. Petersburg, on Konnogvardeisky Boulevard.
In all fairness, we have to say that several attempts to make
exhibitions dedicated to vodka have already been made in our
country.
However, the museum in St. Petersburg, laid out in accordance
with all the conventions of museum work, brilliantly decorated
by Valery Piskunov, with its comfortable and stylish tasting
room, surpasses them all. It is quite symbolic that the museum
is situated in the historical centre of the Northern capital,
not far from St. Isaac's Cathedral, Mariinsky Palace and the
Guards' Riding Hall; an area where the images of our past,
seen and unseen, surround us. It is notable that the building
housing the museum of the Russian national drink used to be
the house of the clergymen of St. Isaac's Cathedral, was constructed
by the architect M. A. Makarov, and is next to the former
mansion of Prince M. V. Kochubei, a member of a famous noble
family.
Let us enter the door of the Museum of Russian Vodka and feel
the atmosphere of the long gone centuries. Listen to the unhurried
story of what is the real vodka, of when its manufacture began
and the role it has played in the history of Russian civilisation.
The guests of the Museum of Russian Vodka have a unique
opportunity to see that the process of wine distillation (the
original name for vodka production) was very up-to-date for
that time period. In the museum halls the visitors can see
an originally made installation, showing a Russian monk by
the first distillation unit equipped with all the necessary
devices and, first of all, with a coil pipe!
Every visitor of the Museum can get a feeling Peter's personal
orders in the halls devoted to the first quarter of the 18th
century. A number of items of the exhibition are connected
with such a mysterious phenomenon of Peter's times as the
games of «Prince-Pope» and «Prince-Caesar» as well as «the
craziest, most-joking and most-drunk council». A drunk crowd
of about 200 men rode along the streets of Moscow in sleighs
pulled by pigs, goats or bears, entered the yards of noble
Muscovites in order to «praise» them and demanded treat and
reward for it. The portraits of the terrible «Prince-Caesar»
F. Yu. Romodanovsky and «the most joking father Ioanikita,
patriarch of Presburg, Kokui and all Yauza» (Nikita Zotov,
the governor of the young Peter the Great) are in the Museum's
collection, as well as many other illustrative materials that
help visitors to understand all the aspects of the times of
Peter the Great. The staff of the Museum satisfy the curiosity
of all those interested in the personal preferences of the
Russian emperors in alcoholic drinks. They will tell visitors
what was poured into the famous «Cup of the Big Eagle», what
Peter the Great's grandson, the «chance visitor of the Russian
throne», Peter the Third drank on each of the 186 days of
his reign, as well as what drinks and foods «the Russian Hamlet»,
emperor Paul the First preferred…
In the Museum visitors can see vodka bottles of different
sizes, from shkalik (or kosushka) to shtof and quarter. The
pride of the Museum is the bottle produced at the Kronshtadt
table wine distillery in 1862. The museum guides can explain
to visitors what chekushka is, how big the traditional Russian
cup (charka, cheporuha) is, how drinking houses, or kabaks,
are different from tractirs that appeared in Russia in the
1880's, and what kinds of vodka were the most popular among
members of different social groups. The choices were very
wide: «Smirnovskaya», «Petrovskaya», «Popovka» (produced at
the distillery of widow Popova) and «Pshenichnaya» (wheat),
«Russkoe Dobro» (Russian goods) and «Dvoinaya Gor'kaya» (double
bitter)… This list could be continued forever… In the beginning
of the 20th century there were more than 5000 wineries in
Russia located in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod,
Kazan as well as in other cities.
A very special item of the Museum is a bottle for the famous
«Moscow Special» vodka, which was called the Russian national
drink by contemporaries and was patented by the government
in 1894.
The larger part of the Museum's collection is devoted to
the 20th century with all its upheavals and sharp turns of
historic fate.
A part of the collection is devoted to the Great Patriotic
War and particularly to the story of introducing a daily ration
of vodka for the soldiers of the 1st line of the front-line
forces, which is traditionally called «Commissar's 100 Grams».
The document that stipulated the ration was found in the archives.
It turned out that it was not the command of the People's
Commissar for Defence, but decree #56200 issued by the State
Defence Committee on August 22, 1941 and signed by the chairman
of the committee, Joseph Stalin.
After the war (this part of the exhibition is quite extensive)
new measures were introduced to improve the quality of vodka
and new technologies came to life.
Following the story of vodka from the early centuries, the
Museum halls bring visitors to contemporary Russia, at the
beginning of the 21st century, and tell them about the current
state of production and consumption of the 40º strong drink.
It can be justly said that the Russian Wine and Vodka Company
produces high quality vodka, and it is this company that launched
the brand «Flagman», which has already become famous.
It is only logical that in the Museum exhibition «Flagman»,
the winner of the most prestigious international exhibitions,
receives the attention it deserves.
The Museum has been opened to the anniversary of Saint-Petersburg
as a wonderful gift to the citizens and guests of the city.
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