Wayne+

Thanks for the info. It speaks to my heart (or my beer as the case--pun
intended-may be). I can just see the ad campaigns:

Doctor and Nurse examining an obviously sick person, all looking very
serious. The Doctor asks the ailing patient about his life habits,
especially focusing on his copious consumption of vodka and then finally
pops the all important one "Do you want to live longer?" The doctor then
gestures to the nurse and she opens the refrigerator across the room filled
with bottles of Russian Standard (then fade to black and white lettered
words appear) BEER--The Drink of life!!!

Sounds positively poetic to me.

Blessings,
Erich+
----- Original Message -----
From: Wayne McNamara <wayne.mcnamara@...>
To: <faithandlife@...>
Sent: Tuesday, June 25, 2002 5:47 PM
Subject: Re: [FaithandLife] Beer


Maybe of interest.

Wayne+

     By Alex Ritson in Moscow
      BBC World Business Report


Russia's love affair with vodka goes back centuries.

In the days of the Soviet Union, you would have been hard pressed to find
any other decent alcoholic drink in the average Russian bar.

But in the last seven years the vodka industry has been facing increasingly
stiff competition from a rival product.

Beer has become one of Russia's biggest success stories with the population
already spending about $5bn (£3.4bn) a year on the drink.

"European" image

Alexei Krivoshapko, who follows the Russian brewing industry for United
Financial Group, said the industry had grown 20% by volume on average over
the past seven years.




"The Russian beer market has become the fifth largest in the world as of
last year - after China, the States, Germany, Brazil," he said.

The prospects for further growth are excellent, according to Richard Musson
from Sun Interbrew.

He said beer is already dominant over vodka in the under 30s age bracket and
is seen as "extremely European".

"When Russians go abroad... they see Europeans drinking a lot of beer," he
said.

"So beer has this very modern, European image, whereas vodka is very much
what your father drank."

Upmarket

Rustam Tariko, who owns one of the country's leading brands, Russian
Standard, said the smart manufacturers were going upmarket.



But despite the growing market share of both beer and premium spirits, the
truth is that 70% of alcohol spending in Russia still goes on cheap vodka.

Because it's cheap, you get a lot more alcohol for your money.

Alexei Krivoshapko said very low taxes on vodka mean there's no prospect of
a level playing field.

"Currently there's a very high price for beer and a very low price for
vodka... in fact you can get drunk for $2," he said.

Beer as a soft drink?

With the average Russian man currently dying below the age of 60, and many
health professionals blaming cheap vodka as a major factor, Richard Musson
from Sun Interbrew says Russian brewers are in an unusual position.

"Beer is, under Russian law, considered a soft drink," he said.

"Beer is something that you have for refreshment when you don't want to
really drink.

"It helps men to communicate without making you fall over and beat up your
wife and do other terrible things."


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