One of my Russian friend ever told me that Russia had local vodka or beer or sort of since I did not remember well his words at that time. He told me the taste was not so good. What I want to know is not about the taste but the range of the liquor itself. So, whether you never drink that anymore or still, could you tell me the range of Russian liquor from the highest alcohol inside it to the lowest ones and in what occasion you drink that?
Actually, real vodka must contain exactly 40% of alcohol. Though you may find something called vodka with different alcohol percentage in shops. But i am not a real Russian, because i do not drink vodka, so i might be wrong and you may not believe me :-D
Denis,I've tried медовуха ('medovukha' ) in Suzdal, and I liked its different variants.Here in my contry,Uruguay, the descendants of Russian inmigrants (who arrived in 1913,so the recipy is rather old),
usually prepare it,but for a strange and unknown reason ,they call it "kvas", that is a completelly different beverage,non alcoholic.They use honey,water,yeast,but they don't add any other flavor to it.
Alcoholics drink vodka every day. It's very strong and cheap. If you are an ordinary man, then you should have it at a funeral only. On major holidays people often drink champagne.
On other holidays you can have wine or tincture that is made by a grandma. From the list of soft drinks I couldn't but mention our honey liqueur, that's originally produced in Suzdal, Vladimir Rigion. You should try it)
Although there are a lot of original receipts of russian drinks, you will hardly find them in bars or restaurants. If you want to try something really new, you should visit our small towns.
PS usually vodka hasn't any specific smell or taste like martini or rom. It's like C2H5OH. However we also have specific kinds of it.
Thanks Denis, Learner54321, Soren and Sonia ))
Avoid unlabeled vodka or as Learner54321 said "Homemade vodka" and you should be fine.