Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Beer Patriotism
This sort of funny poster plays on the concept "beer alcoholism" (Пивной алкоголизм), a social ill that has been lamented on talk shows and by concerned columnists all over Russia. Apparently the modifier is required because beer-drinking has only recently become a sign of alcoholism in the Russian consciousness, and it is indeed true that the advent of drinkable beer (as opposed to nasty Zhigulyovskoe) in Russia has led to a strong upswing in consumption of the suds.
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4 comments:
zhigulyovskoye is one of the best beers I've ever tasted. Of course, it must be in kegs, not bottled or, gods forbid, canned. Unfortunately, I know only one place where one can buy the original Zhigulyovskoye from kegs, it's called the Bottom, near the Samara brewery, where this beer was born.
Well, "на вкус и цвет..." I guess. I'm sure draft Zhigulyovskoe is much tastier, but I've never been anywhere it's available. I was basing my assessment on tastings in the early '90s in SPB (horrible bottled beer which I'm pretty sure was under the Zhigulyovskoe label) and the summer of 2004 in Moscow (cans of Zhigulyovskoe, being sold for 8 rubles apiece - by far the cheapest option - at the outdoor market outside of Metro Universitet). Anyway, I was using Zhigulyovka as a proxy for the idea of Soviet bottled beer, which in the recollections of most people I've talked to (I wasn't of an appropriate age to sample it myself) was not very good.
Is this poster indeed about beer, taking into consideration another meaning of the expression?
Beer (as well as kvass - is there an english equivalent?) patriotism sometimes means artificial, ostentatious patriotism...
Alexei, definitely, I think the poster is intended to mock the sort of boorish patriotism that has become fashionable in Russia of late (and, it must be said, has always been popular in certain circles in the US). In English there is no equivalent term that I know of for this phenomenon. We do have the concept of "beer goggles," which is sort of the same thing - in the sense that it involves overlooking the flaws of the object of one's affection - as inflated patriotism.
Incidentally, among Czechs, the term "beer patriotism" apparently refers to an "abnormally strong emotional relationship to beer." I suppose it might also refer to a propensity to favor beers from one's own country.
There isn't really an English word for kvas, or rather the word used in English is a direct borrowing from the Russian word.
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