Baltika

Monday (the first day before classes start) we take tour of the Baltika brewing factory. It is the most popular Russian beer. They've only gone private post-1991 because everything before that was state-owned and collectivized, including beer. The factory was pretty fun, watching all the bottles go by on the conveyer belt. We had the director of International Relations giving our tour, which is impressive. Afterwards they let us taste all their different kinds of beer. They are numbered from 1-9, going up in alcohol content for the odd-numbered ones and the even-numbered ones are niche beers. For example, Baltika 0 is non-alcoholic, Baltika 9 is high-gravity, and Baltika 6 is a porter. I loved how our guide made the comment: "why would anyone drink a non-alcoholic beer if they could drink an alcoholic one". The laws on alcohol here are a lot different than at home. You are allowed to have open containers on the street, and most everyone in Russia seems to take advantage of it. You will see people, from the little old lady to the business man, walking around with a beer. They stop selling hard liquor after 11, but beer all night. It doesn't seem like they enforce any drinking age, which is 18. The club also didn't card us. I've been told though that a few months ago they did pass a no open container law, though nobody cares.