How Peter I and Catherine the Great taught the country to drink beer

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

How Peter I brought the habit of drinking beer from Europe, why it did not take root and why beer was in demand under Catherine II.

The first indications of how to brew beer from malt and pure water date back to 3000 BC. e.; for the landowners of Mesopotamia, it was a valuable commodity, and in Egypt during the time of the pharaohs it was considered the joy of drunkards. Alpina Publisher is preparing to release the book “The History of Beer: From Monasteries to Sport Bars”, in which authors Mika Rissanen and Juha Tahvanainen tell how this drink at different times was associated with culture, social upheaval and the economy.

Peter the Great was head and shoulders above those around him - both in height (203 cm) and in character traits. On the battlefield he was bolder than the brave, in the matter of government - the most far-sighted, and at parties he drank the most. It was customary for the tsar to drink vodka in an amount that would bring the inexperienced to the grave. Unfortunately, the Russian people also indulged in drunkenness, not all of whose representatives possessed Peter's resistance to alcohol. Peter realized the problem and decided that it was time for his subjects to sober up. He turned his gaze to the west in order to find European justice for the craving for "little white" inherent in Mother Russia.

Peter became a nominal ruler in 1682 at the age of ten, together with his feeble-minded brother Ivan V. In fact, power until his adulthood belonged to his older half-sister Sophia and mother Natalya. The future statesman did not have to bother himself with the daily affairs of government, so that in his younger years he could focus on mastering extensive life skills.

Europe was one of the Peter's passions. At the end of the 17th century. Russia remained a conservative country that in some way lived out the hopeless Middle Ages. Entrepreneurship was not flexible, innovation was disinterested, and the church was central to society. The young Peter's advisers, the Scotsman Patrick Gordon and the Swiss Franz Lefort, in turn knew how to captivate the sovereign with stories about the West striving for novelty. Gordon was well acquainted with European education and military affairs. Lefort, for his part, knew a thing or two about trade, seafaring and the joys of life. In particular, Peter was impressed by the Lefortovo manner of drinking. If, when drinking Russian vodka, the main goal was, it would seem, to get drunk to the point of feeling insensible, then Lefort, as he drank, only became livelier, and his jokes became more amusing.

At the age of 17-18, Peter himself earned his first glory in the Moscow nightlife. Thanks to his large build and growing experience, he contrived to drink more than others. Especially famous was the merry company called "The Most Hearing, the Most Drunken and the Maddest Cathedral," whose drinking could go on for days. The clergy were outraged by the violent morals of this society, while many bishops and blacks were considered an honor to participate in "council" libations.

When in the early 90s. XVII century Peter asserted his autocratic power and fought in 1695 with the Turks for access to the Azov - and further on the Black - Sea, he set off on a journey for specific examples of the European way of life. The main purpose of the trip was, of course, the modernization of the army and the construction of the navy, but at the same time Peter wanted a wide renovation of Russia - right down to culinary preferences.

After spending a fair amount of time in Amsterdam, in 1698 Peter and his retinue arrived in London. He rented an apartment above a pub right on the Thames waterfront, on Norfolk Street (now called Temple Place). Every day he got acquainted with the work of the port and shipyards, and he himself enjoyed working with his hands. We had a rest from work at night. Downstairs in the pub, the retinue sampled the dark beers of the sailors' favorites. According to the stories of contemporaries, the maid was just filling a mug for Peter when he stopped him and ordered: “Leave the mug alone. Bring me a jug! " Along with beer and tobacco smoking, the men also paid tribute to brandy. Later, in the spring, when the Russians moved to another apartment near the Dorpatford shipyards, beer finally gave way to spirits. As a result, the estate, and it belonged to the writer John Evelyn, suffered complete ruin. After the high-born tenants, the owner had to tidy up the floors of all three floors and almost all the furnishings. According to the ledgers, the Russians reimbursed, among other things, the cost of "fifty chairs chopped up for wood, twenty-five torn paintings, three hundred window panes, tiled stoves and all the locks in the house."

In general, a ruler full of strength returned to Russia in August 1698, who confirmed that the Russian people should lead a sober and vigorous lifestyle. Peter himself was content only with cheerfulness. He began military reform and a few years later prevailed over all his opponents. In 1703, he ordered the construction of the Peter and Paul Fortress at the mouth of the Neva, which was seized from the Swedes. But the appetite comes during construction, and a year later the sovereign orders to make Petersburg under construction the capital.

Thirst naturally arises during construction work. Peter took particular care to ensure that the work progressed and the workers were given beer. The same dark elixir was enjoyed in London by the guys from the harbor and shipyard workers, but at the same time in England there were no lazy people, no drunkenness, except perhaps in the retinue of Peter himself. The architects and builders of the future capital were served the same dark beer delivered by sea from England that was drunk at the royal court. The builders had to be content with the products of local breweries, but that was by no means the last analysis: after all, brewing traditions had existed in Russia for centuries.

Prince of Kiev Vladimir, who later became known as the Great, at the end of the 10th century. firmly decided what faith he will convert his people and will convert himself. According to legend, because of the ban on alcohol, Islam was not even discussed. As a result, Vladimir preferred Byzantium to Rome and opened the doors to Orthodoxy. It is noteworthy in the legend that Russia, for all its many years of fame, was not always a vodka power. They got acquainted with vodka in Russia only five centuries after the appearance of a strong drink, so Vladimir, who rejected Islam, with his subjects gave in the 10th century. preference for other drinks - honey, kvass and beer. The Russian word "hop" means, as you know, both the spicy plant that is part of the beer (lat. Humulus lupulus), and the state of intoxication caused by alcohol. It also suggests that beer ranked first as an intoxicating drink. Later the situation changed. The earliest mention of the production of vodka in Russia dates back to 1558. And already at the end of the same century there were complaints that vodka had become a national disaster.

At the time of Peter the Great, beer rushed to the counter. Beer and other "European" drinks were primarily preferred by the middle and upper class citizens who were the pro-Western part of society. The poorest part of the peasantry also drank mostly weak drinks. However, this did not last long. The "West Wind" subsided as Peter grew older, and the sober life of the people no longer seemed a matter of key importance. Vodka had its advantages: it brought tangible income to the state.

The decades after Peter were marked by constant palace coups. Of course, they drank beer at court, but French drinks were in great favor - from wine to cognac. Beer was on trend again in the 60s. XVIII century, when a connoisseur appeared in the person of a native of Germany Catherine II the Great. Her father even sent his daughter beer, brewed in the German city of Zerbst, as a wedding drink. True, after her youth in Germany, Catherine did not like Russian beer. For the needs of the court, she annually ordered a huge batch of strong dark beer in London. Catherine also called for English masters to be hired in Russian breweries. The appeal was heard and the quality of the beer improved as expected.

Along with the renewal of domestic brewing, trade flourished. Beer imports to Russia have grown tenfold over the long period of Catherine's rule (1762–1796). The English traveler William Cox recalled his visit to St. Petersburg in 1784: "… I have never tasted a better and richer English beer and porter." In the period 1793-1795. beer was imported into the country in the amount of 500,000 rubles, in monetary terms twice as much as spices. But Ekaterina could not change the general direction of Russian drinking culture. The consumption of vodka has grown over the 18th century. 2, 5 times - the same trend continued later. However, since the 90s. XX century beer in Russia "rose" again. And again the image of Europe is associated with it. And nowadays, mostly educated townspeople prefer beer over vodka.

If women, in principle, are less represented in historical descriptions, then in the history of beer, and even more so, almost all the heroes are men. Catherine, who boasted that she could drink beer as fast as the courtiers, is a striking exception. Many women, such as the Tartu widows, remained on the pages of history only as nameless ghosts. Of the glorious ladies of the past centuries, few became known as admirers of beer, but as an example we can mention at least the Empress of Austria-Hungary Elizabeth, for friends - Sissi.

There is a wide range of beer brands named after great male historical figures. We have selected a couple of representative examples for this book as well. Women are rare. At least Belgian small brewery Smisjen named their beer "Imperial Stout" after Catherine the Great. The Bohemian Baroness Ulrika von Leventsov was also awarded a signature beer (Žatec Baronka). The German writer Johann Wolfgang Goethe was on vacation in the Bohemian mountains in 1822 when he met 18-year-old Ulrika. A young lady from a noble family showed the 73-year-old writer the surrounding landscapes, they also looked into the local brewery. The noble hops of Bohemian beer and the beauty of his companion drove the old man crazy. Goethe could not forget the Baroness even after returning home. Where there - he seriously decided to ask her hand. Falling in love did not lead to a relationship, but inspired Goethe to write poems that are considered the most personal, including the Marienbad Elegy.

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Baltika No. 6 Porter

A type: Porter

Fortress: 7, 0%

The initial gravity of the wort: 15.5 ˚P

Bitterness: 23 EBU

Color: 162 EBC

At the Russian imperial court, it was customary to serve especially strong types of beer delivered by sea from England "stout", which later, in the 19th century, began to be called imperial stout. Baltic porters appeared when a similar dark beer began to be produced in the 18th century. in St. Petersburg and its environs. The beer tasted well with Russian snacks such as black bread with cucumber.

Brewing traditions continued during the Soviet era, although the quality of the product varied greatly. To save the reputation of Soviet beer in Leningrad, it was planned to build an ultra-modern brewery, which was opened in the fall of 1990, when the Soviet Union was living out its last days. The Baltika Brewery was privatized in 1992, and in four years it became the largest brewery in the country. The plant is currently the second largest in Europe and has been owned by the Carlsberg concern since 2008.

Baltika No. 6 Porter is a top-fermented beer with fermentation at a low temperature, which distinguishes it from the British samples. It has an almost black color and, when poured into a glass, gives a layer of dense white foam. The aroma contains notes of rye bread, roasted malt and caramel. Taste - caramel, with a light chocolate shade, dryish. The aftertaste is distinguished by citrus and hoppy notes.