This week Russia will host the G8 summit in St.Petersburg. Putin has shot a few clear words to the West and especially the US upfront. Some other Russian politicians have followed. The message is always the same: Russia is a world power. Not again. It has always been (and probably will always be). Here is some interesting article from German Spiegel Magazine (in Englisch).

Well, even world powers have problems and Russia has lots of them, especially the never ending stories of supply problems and buerocracy. Some Moscovites must have felt put back into Soviet times this week, when they went into their local supermarkets to buy wine. Most of the shelves are empty. Russia has just introduced a new and harder to copy excise stamp to fight illegal alcohol. In parallel, shop owners were asked to remove wines with old stamps from their shelves by July 1st and replace them with products carrying the new stamps. But as it is so often in Russia, the production of these new stamps is delayed and since almost 2 weeks. Regardless, the supermarkets were enforced to remove the wines with the old stamps, so there is no wine in Russian supermarkets since almost 2 weeks.

Will we be able to order wine in Moscow restaurants these days?

Mosnews states in an article that they don’t expect this issue to be resolved in less than a month or so. Also they say that about 30% of all Russian liquor stores will have to close down indefinite, because they have nothing to sell. But Mosnews is not concerned. As long as there is Bread, Salt and Vodka, everything is going to be alright and we are not expecting social turbulences such as riots.

It’s just a perfect example of how things here work and how frustrating business can get in and with Russia. I see buerocratic obstacles on a daily basis and this only supports the corruption, which the government is trying to get rid of.

Well, I like wine, but I can live without it and especially in these hot and humid days I prefer a cold beer. I just hope they are not going to introduce beer stamps in the near future. By the way, if you come back from a Europe visit or a vacation, bring me a bottle of red wine please.

I tell everyone I am from Munich and in fact I have been born there and I spent most of my time there until I left. Nevertheless I have been growing up in a little city 2 hours North of Munich called Bamberg. This city is known for its excellent beer and the 180 large and little breweries in and around Bamberg.
In the age of 6 I had my first sips of beer and to be honest, I didn’t like the bitter taste and I couldn’t understand how adults can like this stuff so much. About 9 years later I started to become a beer expert myself. Me and my friends were drinking ourselves through most of the local breweries with the age of 15. Legally I wasn’t allowed to drink until being 16, but when I turned 16 I couldn’t drink some beers like the unfiltered “Weizenbeer” anymore. Also the very strong (asn sweet) Bock beers are on my NO NO list. I can handle (and like) Weizen again, but Bock is still turning my stomack upside down.
Drinking a lot of beer you become a beer expert and you taste it when a beer is bad. What do I call bad? I’d call a Heineken bad for example. Most of the Russian beers give me a headache for some reason (maybe somebody can tell me why?). I guess they are using some chemicals I cannot stand.
Just a few weeks ago I found this very good beer in my local supermarkets shelf (Perekrostok). Its called Bueble Beer and its from the South West Bavarian Alps. I decided to try it and I like it very much. Even in Germany I’d call it a good beer and I am very surprised to find such a treasure in the shelf near all the other imported crap. In the meantime I have seen this beer in various supermarkets, but unfortunatly its not cheap. You’ll have to pay about $3 per bottle. Achuan has a beer week right now and there you can get it for $2/bottle, which is a fair price compared to the other imported beers. So for all of you Germans, Expats or Russians, who want to try a very good beer… check out Allaeuger Bueble Bier. Now available in Moscow.

In the meantime I have found out, why this beer is available so far from home. The brewery belongs to the Radeberger Brewery, which is quiet large in Germany. Someone over there, must have recognized this special beer and thought its a good fit for the Russian market. Well done! … and thanks. What would watching the Soccer Worldchampionships be, without a good cold beer in my hand?