Beer Finally Becomes an Alcoholic Drink in Russia

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Dram

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http://www.smh.com.au/world/sobering-day-in-russia-as-beer-becomes-alcohol-20130101-2c3nl.html
Beer in Russia will become an alcoholic drink for the first time today.

Many Russians consider beer a soft drink - a light refreshment that can be guzzled on the way to work or downed in great quantities before a picnic and a swim in the river.

Hard drinkers sniff at its weakness, and there is a saying: "Beer without vodka is like throwing money to the wind."

But a hung-over nation will wake up to a new and troubling reality when, with the new year, beer becomes classified as an alcoholic drink for the first time.
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Until now it has been considered a foodstuff, along with all drinks under 10 per cent in strength. An array of international and local brands, from Amstel to Efes and Baltika to Zhiguli, could be bought at street kiosks, railway stations, and corner shops, like fruit juice or mineral water. Bus stops and petrol stations account for up to 30 per cent of sales.

Morning and evening, people supping from cans or bottles are a common sight in parks and squares and on Moscow's Metro.

Beer's new status as alcohol, however, will prevent it being sold from street outlets, and sales between 11pm and 8am will be banned. Television advertising will also be outlawed.

The new restrictions were signed off by the then president Dmitry Medvedev in 2011 in an effort to tackle alcohol abuse, which he had described as a "national calamity".

The average Russian drinks the equivalent of 32 pints of pure alcohol per year, and about 500,000 deaths annually are thought to be drink-related. That includes a large number of road deaths and several thousand cases of drowning.
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Until now it has been considered a foodstuff, along with all drinks under 10 per cent in strength. An array of international and local brands, from Amstel to Efes and Baltika to Zhiguli, could be bought at street kiosks, railway stations, and corner shops, like fruit juice or mineral water. Bus stops and petrol stations account for up to 30 per cent of sales.
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Umm I guess 10% is a lot but it's not like you can't buy beer from corner shops and kiosks outside Russia.
 
KuGsj.gif
it all make so much sense now
 
"Beer without vodka is like throwing money to the wind." lmao, I have a friend with the exact same mindset. If you leave beer unattended, he will juice it up.
 
I'm skeptical this is real, but it definitely explains those driving videos if real.
 
Heh, that made me genuinely interested in how early people started to consume beer in Russia (since German youth probably starts around 14, even though the threshold age for acquiring it is 16).

Youth throughout Russia are promising unrest and acts of disobedience if law classifying beer as alcohol is not repealed.
Russian children are boiling mad about Russian President Medvedev's announcement that beer will soon be classified for the first time in Russian history as an alcoholic drink.
Children throughout Russia are still not completely over the ban on traditional and gambling at casinos online which cost tens of thousands of Russian kids their after school jobs distributing casino advertising flyers.
The new law sets a 0.5 percent threshold to legally determine if a liquid is to be classified as an alcohol. The situation eased up a bit after schools announced that Kvas, a national drink containing 1.2% alcohol favored by children will be exempt from the list.
The move is also seen as partially influenced by Coca Cola which has recently started marketing a brand of Kvas - Tzars & Peasants, throughout Russia.
Improving the quality of life in order to discourage alcohol consumption is a new approach for Russia. According to a Public Chamber member Oleg Zykov, Russia never had a policy of reducing the demand for alcohol, only regulating its supply. Now it became obvious to the authorities and the public that they should fight with the causes rather than with the consequences.
A new bill signed into law forbids the sale of beer from 11pm till 8am throughout the country as well as bans it from street kiosks which are located on practically every corner of Russian cities and villages.
The law will take effect on January 1, 2013 the day when nearly the entire population will be in need of beer to ease back into reality after vodka fueled New Year's binge.
Russian children start drinking beer and wine at 12-13 years of age and move on to vodka by the age of 18. According to the Russian Ministry of Health, an average Russian drinks 30 liters of vodka each year.
The World Health Organization awarded Russia 4th place in the world in per capita alcohol consumption. Only Brazil, Kazakhstan, and Mexico are ahead of Russia in alcohol consumption while South Africa and Ukraine have almost caught up.
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http://happyhourmagonline.com/2011/...-about-new-law-classifying-beer-as-alcohol-2/
 
Phantast2k's link said:
The law will take effect on January 1, 2013 the day when nearly the entire population will be in need of beer to ease back into reality after vodka fueled New Year's binge.
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WrfSA.jpg


"You know that's right."
 
Carcetti said:
They quite probably mean that you can't buy the beer from grocery shops at night even though you can get it from bars at that time.
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Similar law is in use here in Finland, you can't buy alcohol in stores between 9pm and 9am.
 
Belgian here. I can buy beer everywhere and anywhere. And this isn't a nation of drunks. Legal drinking age is 16 but I could easily get beer at the age of 14.
 
Well, if I every want to do something different, I think working at a automobile body shop in Russia would keep me busy.
 
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