Drinking establishments in Russia

Russia today is considered one of the most drinking countries in the world. Some people do not agree with this statement, others, on the contrary, are even proud of it, while others are neutral. But when first appeared drinking establishments in Russia? Who became a reformer? We will try to understand this issue further.

Drinking is the eternal vice of Russia?

Many people think that the liquor store in the old days already existed, emerged, so to speak, from the very beginning of the state formation, and the Russian peasant even then suffered from alcoholism. But this is not so. Rusich used only low-alcohol drinks with a strength of no more than 1-6%: braga, honey, beer, kvass. Their action quickly evaporated. During the period of cultural ties with Byzantium, red Greek wine was imported into Russia , which was used only on church holidays among the "best" people of the principality. But these drinks were also not too strong - no more than 12%, and were consumed only by diluted water, just as they did in Greece and Byzantium. When did the first drinking establishments in Russia appear? How did it all start?

Feast - a princely tradition

Old Russian bylinas, fairy tales and stories mention the princely feasts on which the tables "broke." These were private feasts, which the princes arranged for their boyars. Such gatherings were called "bratchins", and women were not allowed to join them. But there were events on which the weaker sex was present, and similar feasts in this case were called "folds". Until now, such a word is found in oral speech: for example, "play in the fold", which means to divide the costs equally, buy something together, although more often such expressions are a thing of the past. And we will return to our topic.

The most popular drinks at such events in Ancient Russia were:

• Red wine from Byzantium (before the Mongol-Tatar invasion).
• Beer.
• Kvass, which, in fact, was like a beer to taste.
• Honey. The meaning of this word in translation into modern language means "mead". Sometimes they made a clarification - "drunken honey", but not always.
• Braga. Actually it was made from honey, only it was added in smaller quantity, since there was not sugar yet.

Drinks were made independently in each princely or boyar court.

"Pitukhov not drive away!", Or the first drinking establishments in Russia

The first official opening of the "bars" is not connected with the name of Peter the Great, as many may think right away, but with another controversial character in our history - Ivan the Terrible.

After the capture of Kazan drinking establishments began to appear in Moscow and were called taverns. After a while they began to be called "royal taverns", "lace houses." And only in the middle of the 18th century they got the definition of "drinking establishments".

With the opening of such establishments, drinks at home stopped producing. Everyone wanted to spend time in a crowded place.

Very interesting is the fact that the first official units for measuring liquids were called measures from the first "bars": a bucket, a stop, a mug, etc.

The very word "tavern" of Tatar origin had the meaning of "inn". That is, initially they were the first hotels for oprichniks and soldiers, in which various alcoholic drinks were served.

But the taverns began to attract wide sections of the population, and the fees from the sale of alcoholic beverages to the treasury exceeded all expectations.

"Pitukhov (from the word" drink ") from the tavern taverns does not drive away, lace collection to hand over against the past with a profit," - said the state decree. This means that the authorities of the Moscow state did not simply not fight with drunkenness in the country, but, on the contrary, developed such establishments and encouraged the use of alcohol among broad sections of the population. The names of the drinking establishments were different: "The Great Tsarev Tavern", "The Unquenchable Candle". But all of them were officially called "tsar's taverns", and since 1651 - "lace yards". And it was only in 1765 that they were given the name of "drinking houses".

The first "dry laws" in Russia

The situation with drunkenness was so serious that Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich was forced to convene the Zemsky Sobor, where the fate of such "bars" was decided. Then the authorities wisely limited the number of such establishments, and only one chark was allowed to be sold for take-away. But to overcome the habit of the people is not so simple. Vodka was bought with buckets, as there were simply no bottles today. One such container of "life-giving water" or "hot wine" contained about 14 liters of a drink.

An interesting fact: by weight, the quality of vodka was determined. If the bucket weighed 30 pounds (about 13.6 kg), then the alcohol was considered good quality, not diluted. If more - the owner was waiting for a severe disassembly. By the way, today you can also resort to similar methods of verification. One liter of pure 40% vodka should weigh exactly 953 grams.

Kabaki close - restaurants open

Since 1881, there has been a qualitative change in the anti-alcohol policy of the state. From this time the taverns are closed. But instead of them a small drinking establishment appears - a tavern or a tavern (originally this term was applied to moonshine). There were several differences:

1. In addition to alcohol, they began selling snacks, which had not been practiced before.
2. A state monopoly was introduced in the country, which means that such an institution was obliged to take a special permit for sale and buy alcohol only from state distilleries.

Mendeleev "came up with" vodka?

At this time a special commission is being convened, headed by the famous chemist D. Mendeleev. She decides how to instill a culture of drinking into the population in order to "teach to look at vodka as an element of a feast, and not as a means of causing strong intoxication and oblivion."

Apparently, therefore, in our country the myth is spread that it was Mendeleev who "invented" vodka. In fact, this is not so. It was only for the first time that this term, on an official level, began to be called a strong alcoholic beverage. Before that, it was called in different ways: "boiled wine", "bread wine", "helmsman", "fire water". The term "vodka" was considered slang before, it came from a diminutive "water", "voditsa" and was applied only in relation to medicinal tinctures based on alcohol. Hence it is believed that our famous chemist "invented" vodka. But it should be noted that Mendeleev brought modern optimal proportions of the drink: 40-45% alcohol, the rest - water.

Problems are not resolved

Excise reform led to the opposite effect: low quality potato vodka came to replace the high-quality product, as several allowed plants worked either for export or for army medicine.

After the revolution, it was absolutely forbidden to sell alcohol, but since 1924, its sale has resumed. After that, there was still an attempt to introduce a "dry law" during perestroika, but such a policy destroyed only high-quality alcohol in the country, and such republics as Georgia and Moldova were on the verge of bankruptcy, since the main percentage of their exports were wine and wine.