Russian and Ukrainian beer

<< 2006-10-28 15:55 >>

Lvivske Porter, the best Ukrainian beer

Russia and the Ukraine may sound like terrible destinations for anyone looking for a decent pint of beer, and while both countries are for the most part deserts of pale lager, things are not nearly as bad as they may seem. There are some interesting beer styles, some brewpubs, and the quality of the industrial beer (especially in the Ukraine) is not at all bad. And prices are low, of course.

(Apologies for the lack of good photos, by the way. I lost nearly all my Russian beer photos together with the laptop.)

Despite this, Ukrainian beer seems largely unexplored on RateBeer, while Russian seems better covered. When we left for the Ukraine, only 27 Ukrainian beers had 10 ratings or more. Two months (and 55 ratings from me) later, the number stands at 29. The beer scenes in the two countries seem very similar, as far as I can tell, so I will treat them as one here. In general, Russia seems a little more sophisticated and a little more aware of modern craft beer attitudes, and Russian beer also seems to enjoy much broader international distribution.

Drinking beer in Russia and the Ukraine

Beer generally seems to be the drink of choice in Russia. People drink it in parks, in the street, in pubs, in restaurants, at the bus stop, etc etc. In fact, in Kiev it's not uncommon in the late afternoon to meet men in suits carrying a briefcase in one hand and an open beer bottle and a cigarette in the other. People seem to do much more drinking in public places than in pubs and bars, probably because of the prices, and possibly also because of the loud music.

We did see people drinking strong liquor or wine, but not very often. Alcopops exist, but are barely noticeable. The Russian reputation for vodka drinking seemed undeserved to us, but probably more vodka is drunk at home and in social settings than in public places.

Pyatiy Okean, Moscow. Brewpub with tap on the table

In general most restaurants and pubs in Russia and the Ukraine have only pale lager, and while there are quite a few of these this gets boring quickly. The strange thing is that the breweries make other beers, but in three weeks we only found one place that had something else in their menu (only on the menu, of course; when we ordered it they turned out not to have it). However, there are a couple of brewpubs in Kiev, and there are some pleasant surprises here and there, so it isn't all dreary.

One interesting thing about Russia and the Ukraine is that pretty much every street corner has a couple of kiosks selling various groceries, typically including 10-15 different beers, and the beers vary from kiosk to kiosk. The prices are also incredibly low (2-4 UAH for an 0.5l bottle; that is, 30-60 EUR cents), so if a beer does not appeal you can simply pour it out and have another. The result of this (and the loud, horrible music played in most pubs/restaurants/cafés) is that often the best place to have a beer in Russia is on a park bench, or on a beach promenade. Or, in the worst case, your hotel room.

It seems that foreign beer enjoys much higher prestige than the local brews. Foreign beer is consistently much higher priced, often by a factor of 4-5. The more upscale a restaurant or pub is, the fewer domestic brands it seems to carry. The same pattern seems to hold for grocery stores, so trying to find a well-stocked supermarket to buy the best Russian beers is not going to work, because most likely the supermarket will have only foreign brands. Local "gastronom" shops for the common people are a much better place to seek out local brews, although some supermarkets carry local specialties like meads.

Beer styles

The Lonely Planet guide to the Ukraine compares Ukrainian beer with Czech beer, and the comparison definitely makes sense. The Ukraine (and Russia) have much the same beer styles as the German lager styles widespread in the Czech Republic, although Russia and the Ukraine add some extra styles. The quality (at least in 2006) is also comparable. Ukrainian pale lagers are generally quite well made, although in Russia the average seems to be quite a bit lower.

In general, Russian and Ukrainian brewers tend to stick to the traditional German beer styles, with some rare exceptions. The main styles are:

Svitle (light)

Pretty standard pale lagers, 4-5% alcohol. Generally low on flavour, but for the most part also free of off tastes and quite well made.

Best in category: Lvivske Premium (3.2). Worst: Taller (2.2).

Temne (dark)

Dark lagers (or dunkels), again 4-5% alcohol. Generally sweet, but not always, and generally with some roastiness, and, if you are very lucky, some spiciness. Again, off tastes are rare, though at times the brewers overdo the sweetness somewhat.

Best in category: Obolon Oksamitove (3.2). I didn't try enough of these to have a meaningful worst.

Mitsne (strong)

Pretty standard strong pale European lagers, 6-8%. They are sweeter and denser in body than the svitles, and often have a bit more hops. Reminiscent of Scandinavian "gold" macro brews.

Best: Slavutych Mitsne (3.0). Worst: Arsenal Mitsne (2.5).

Bile (white)

German-style hefeweizen wheat beers, but often spicier and more citric than the German brews, while not as much as the Belgian wits. There are also some dark "whites", which tend to be sweeter.

Best: Dnipro Bile (3.1). Worst: Chernigivske Bile Nefiltrovane (2).

Porter

There is, surprisingly, a good number of these, but they are very difficult to find. In three weeks of searching I saw Lvivske Porter twice, and Baltika 6 once. The latter I haven't tried yet, so I don't know enough about this category to write anything meaningful about it.

Kvas

There is also kvas, a traditional Russian beer style originally quite low in alcohol and brewed from bread. This is rarely sold in bottles or in pubs, but generally sold in the street from little tank trucks. These usually have some babushka manning them, selling beer in plastic cups. For some reason this beer style has much lower status than the more widespread German-derived styles, although some of the brewpubs make good versions of it.

I got to try a few different varieties of kvas throughout those three weeks, and there seem to be two different kinds. One is what I would call the traditional, which is brownish, hazy, and tastes of rye bread, spice, and yeast. The other is found in bottles and pubs, and seems more like a traditional soft drink, with a gingery taste. I never found any official indication of the alcohol level, but would think 3-4% at the most.

Russian kvas in a can

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