Anyone heard from Baroda lately?

[mora]

Originally posted by Pongo
Ya we in north america have weird views on alchohol
15 liters of 100% alchohol is about 45 liters of vodka.
That is an absolutly stunning amount.

In beer that is 845 bottles

So in my house. Thats 845 * 4 (me, my two kids and my girl friend)
3380 bottles of beer. 281  cases

Over 5.5 cases of beer a week. And that its the average. LOL
We probably go through 1.5 cases a week between wine and beer and the ocasional paralyzer. To think of a whole nation of 2-300 million people consuming booze at that rate. Wow. Its like being in Nelsons navy and the whole nation gets a grog ration of a quart a day.

Beer is beer and vodka is vodka. If you want to consume same amount of alcohol in beer it's MUCH more unhealthy

From personal experience Russians don't get drunk anymore than anyone else. And when they do they are able contain themself unlike you amurricans.

[OIO]

also, more than half of the US population doesnt have to deal with arse-freezing temps year long. I hear scandinavian nations and Russians get warm and fuzzy with the drink

[mora]

The problem is that now alcohol is pretty cheap and you can get it 24/7, unlike Soviet times when it was sold from 11:00 to 19:00. I really hate seing kids drinking beer  

I don't think that time restrictions have any effect on consumption. Here you can buy hard liquor until 20:00 on weekdays and 18:00 on saturday. It just leads to people stashing up and buing smuggled spirit.

We have lots of young people drinking  here too. And they seem to get younger all the time(or is just me getting older?) The youngest you see are maybe 12 or 13 .

"Average alcohol consumption" is like an average temperature in the hospital. There are people who doze themselves with a halflitre every day, there are people who don't drink at all.

Definately so. The French consume the largest average amounts, but that's just mostly because they drink always wine with their meals.

[miko2d]

mora: I don't think that time restrictions have any effect on consumption. Here you can buy hard liquor until 20:00 on weekdays and 18:00 on saturday. It just leads to people stashing up and buing smuggled spirit.

 With all due respect, you have no idea what you are talking about, never being a citizen of a fully socialist state.

 Imagine that you take your place in the line (queue for brits) at 9:30 so that you could get some vodka before the store runs out of its daily suppy. At 11:00 the store opens and by 12:00 you buy your vodka if you are lucky (limit 1 bottle per customer) and if there is any left, you can go to the back of the line again for another one - if the salesperson does not memorize your face. How much would you be able to stash up?

 Sure, there will be a black market but the price would be twice as much. Do you know how much did vodka cost in communist times? 1/2 of a worker's daily salary or more.
 Most alcoholics drunk cheaper fortified wine, not vodka, subject to the same time and supply restrictions.

 miko

[mora]

Weren't those restrictions only applied in the mid 80's by Mr G?  What I can't understand is how a black market vodka could cost a days salary, it's not that hard to make some youself?

[Boroda]

Originally posted by mora
Weren't those restrictions only applied in the mid 80's by Mr G?  What I can't understand is how a black market vodka could cost a days salary, it's not that hard to make some youself?

Yes, the crap Miko described started in 1986. BTW, at that time liquor stores opened at 14:00.

Making moonshine (samogon) was a crime. You could go to prison for having a distiller.

Store price for vodka was 10 rubles for half-litre, with average monthly salary around 200 rubles in late-80s. And buying vodka from taxi drivers was two-tree times more expensive... You could also buy it at restaurants that closed late, but the price there was also 1.5-2 times more.

It's funny that Gorby said his attempt to "sober" the nation was a reason for state income losses, but vodka price went up 100% while sales reduced by 40%.

Vodka prices were raised by Brezhnev and went from 3.62 to 5 rubles, then lowered in Andropov's time to 4.12 and then raised by Gorby to 6.80 and then to 9.80 for cheapest bottle of "Russkaya".

In Gorby's times people drank everything that could burn, from cucumber lotion to furniture polish...

[Martlet]

I can't believe a nation spends so much time tracking the cost of booze with each leader.

[miko2d]

Boroda: In Gorby's times people drank everything that could burn, from cucumber lotion to furniture polish...

 I remember a mug of beer with 2 short sprays of roach-killer aerosol was condisered a cheap substitute for a half-liter of vodka.

 It would be curious to track life expectancy of people who drank that...

 miko

[mora]

It wasn't too cheap even before Brezhnev. It's nice to learn important things about history.

[capt. apathy]

If you have a few shots of vodka with every meal it doesn't mean that you have a problem. Infact it's healthy for you.

if you have 'a few shots with every meal',  it may not mean you are an alcoholic but it would mean you are a drunk and that you do have a problem.  you might just be a bit too lit to notice the problem.

[MrLars]

Originally posted by mora


From personal experience Russians don't get drunk anymore than anyone else. And when they do they are able contain themself unlike you amurricans.

This is so true....except for some 'experienced' boozers I've known here in the USA.

I spent 2 months in a town called Usinsk, about 40 clicks South of the Artic Circle back in '95. Had more than a few cognac's and shots of vodka with the locals...they have some realy good and some realy, realy bad stuff there.

I saw 16yo girls drink some Texas oilmen under the table a few times....funny sight!

I quit drinking when I got back the states though, haven't had a hangover in 7+ years.