Let's remember what alcoholic drinks we have
always stood on holiday tables during the Soviet years.
Many of them have not been
are produced, but their taste is still preserved in memory.

At first I wanted to call this part in the spirit of the previous ones - "What We Drank".
But that's why I thought about it and decided that this is a little not correct :)
The first time I tried alcoholic drinks at the age of 15,
and for the first time got seriously drunk at the age of 16, on New Year. "Port wine 777".
Fortunately, I did not become addicted to the "green serpent" and still consider it evil.
If in excess. But quality vintage wines,
cognacs and viskariki occasionally respect.

I had one hobby as a child. Collected wine (vodka, cognac) labels.
Agree, quite an innocent hobby for a child. And I was just a fan.
You might find a bottle on the street, bring it home, put it in a bowl of hot water,
15 minutes - bang! and a new label in the collection. Friends (mothers) helped
- they looked for treasured bottles of the deep-Soviet period in the cellars / attics and gave them to me.
For several years, an impressive pack has accumulated
. Then the hobby suddenly disappeared, as did the collection itself. But, fortunately, she was later found.
I carefully scanned it and now I want to show you :) Labels for me -
one of the doors to childhood memories.
Soviet drawings, fonts, prices, "I belt, II belt", "Price with the cost of dishes", containers,
kilometer-long queues for wine and vodka, coupons...
Crimea, the sea and the vine, after all.

Do not be lazy, take your time, look at each label -
She has a lot to say and remember.

So what was still on our tables and in refrigerators 20-30 years ago?

I'll start with aperitifs.

The lion's share of wine production in the USSR came from the Moldavian SSR. The inscription "MOLDVINPROM"
will be found in almost every third label.

Sherries and vermouths:

And "GOSAGROPROM" - on every second :)

One of the pearls of my small collection is Hungarian vermouth.

Very popular in the 90s, live bottled beer from our native Ulyanovsk plant (R.I.P):

And this is the same Ulyanovsk plant, but still in the 80s:

The pride of our brewery!

Our plant soldered not only Ulyanovsk, but also neighbors :)

Classics of the genre!

Now this is also happening. But it's not like that anymore...

Hello from China. Their beer. This is the crazy 90s.

We are done with aperitifs, let's move on to table wines, of which there were a great many in the USSR.

Table (dry, semi-dry and semi-sweet) wines:

Guys, this is Checheningushvino! Pretty rare label.

Rkatsiteli is a popular light wine made from a highly valuable grape variety.

Greetings from Volgograd!

Azerbaijan:

Black Sea pink, with the inscription on the boat "Abrau-Durso". It looks like it was made in the same factory.

This small bottle was brought by us from my first trip to the Crimea, in 1991:

Such a small bottle of wine stood in our sideboard for a long time.
Until the wine turned to vinegar.
I have many childhood memories associated with her:

In particular, the dream of the sea began with her.

Abkhazia. By the way, the label is now reanimated and can be seen on the shelves.
This one is from those Soviet times.

Here is a modern label of Abkhazian wine:

Bulgaria has always been distinguished by expensive printing of labels.

Bulgaria 90s:

Algerian wine. I think that ordinary people did not have this on their tables:

Fortified wines:

A pack of the next two "zero" labels, the boys and I found in some basement.
Apparently, someone hid there for an underground workshop.

This one has a very uneven print. Apparently self-made. I will not believe,
that "Abrau-Durso" could afford such a hack.

Did I mention that I had my first drink at 15? I lied.
In church, they poured a whole spoonful of diluted Cahors into us children :)

Well, who does not remember the liqueur Amaretto, popular in the 90s? :)) Sold in every "lump".

Like this fortified Moldovan wine:

Remember that troubled time when alcohol could be bought anywhere,
just not in the store ... In the "lumps", "at the granny" ... Horror.

Here is something else sweet and foreign from those times. More like chocolate.

Odessa Mama!

I like these monsters: "Glavuprpischeprom GOSAGROPROM RSFSR ROSSPIRTPROM"

Probably those who worked there, always gathered for a long time with an answer to the question about the place of work.

Cossack wine:

Flavored wines:

And here even the counter-label with the cocktail recipe has been preserved:

Ports

I have always associated ortwine with something cheap and unworthy
self-respecting person. Like a triple cologne.
"Mom is anarchy, dad is a glass of port." Unfortunately,
the opinion was established with the first experience of intoxication of a strong degree,
what happened to me after the chiming clock in 1996. Bottle "777"
was destroyed almost in one gulp, for two with a friend
- hurried to friends (Vityok, if you read me, then hello). Hmm...

"Agdam" is still Soviet:

"Agdam" is no longer Soviet. And the price went up. Holiday prices....

3

And another variation:

Moldovan :)

Georgian port bag "Three bananas":

Sparkling wines (Champagne - New Year is coming soon!):

Champagne in the late 80s and early 90s, like everything else, was not easy to buy.
By some tricks they got a box or two for the wedding.
And it was even necessary to show a certificate from the registry office that it was really for the wedding.
For it’s not good to celebrate for no reason when the “dashing” are in the yard
- drink vodyaru on coupons ...
I didn't like champagne. No, not because it's not like that.
It’s just that bottles from under it were very rarely accepted.
We can say that they did not accept at all. From under vodka and beer - without ceremony.
And the champagne bottles were dead weight in the sheds and on the balconies.
Their only use is slingshot shooting. The glass is strong
did not fly apart the first time, prolonging the pleasure for the second and third hit.
And they also mixed carbide with water in them, plugged them with a native cork and ran into the "bunker".
Yes, motorists stored all sorts of liquids in them, such as solariums, oils and electrolytes. Reliable capacity.

Here they are, native to every Soviet citizen, labels.

Made and poured everywhere.

Azerbaijan SSR:

Tolyatti:

What had no right to be called "champagne" was called "sparkling".

Abrau-Durso, the king of Soviet champagnes:

And note, one price - 6 rubles 50 kopecks with the cost of dishes. How simple and clear...

Cheap Moscow "pop" for two pee:

Imported from Bulgaria:

From Hungary:

Friends, I'm sorry, I couldn't resist :)

It is modern, "New World". I haven't tried anything better...

Strong tinctures:

End of 10th grade. We are all very adults now, we can decide for ourselves what to drink and how much :) The choice has always fallen on this:

0.5 for 10 people - cool, walk! :) Why lemon?
Apparently, on a subconscious level, they chose a compromise between childhood (lemonade) and supposedly already adult life (vodka).
The rubbish is still the same, but it was impossible to show it. And don't forget that this is 1996...

For some reason, tinctures were then made similar to lemonade. Have you attracted children? :)

The only inscription "bitter" said that it was not tasty.

Strong tincture "Zubrovka": Made on the basis of bison herb, it has a mild, slightly burning taste and aroma of bison.

And the price is already a whole red gold piece.

Cognacs:

Our parents were lucky - they could still drink normal, "not burned"
cognacs from Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Moldova.
How many kinds there were! But not everyone can afford it. More expensive than vodka by 5 rubles.

Moldavian SSR:

I found this bottle in some old cellar, half full. Naturally, the liquid was immediately drained to the ground :)
But it was someone's stash.

What is not now. Georgian cognacs:

Azerbaijani:

Cognac of the Dagestan ASSR. Produced at the Moscow Inter-Republican Winery.

Disgusting cognac drink"Strugurash": But for lack of a better one, he also went:

Vodka was as it is now - cheap and expensive.

The cheap one was almost always sold in lemonade bottles - "cheburashkas", with a lid made of thick foil, with a "tail":

Darling - in long bottles, with a screw cap:

And this is how vodka was bought in the USSR:

First they handed over the old container, then they took a new one with this money. If enough :)

"Gorbachev's loop":

If there was not enough vodka, then they took port wine. When it ended and he went to a nearby store for this:

Interestingly, the same brand of vodka could be both cheap and expensive at the same time.

I'll start with the cheap ones. This was usually paid with a tractor driver in the spring, for arable work in a summer cottage:

This was usually put on the table on ordinary holidays:

The capital was not available (in any case, with us).
Prepared on the highest purity alcohol with the addition of sugar in the amount of 0.2 g per 100 ml.

And finally, the king of vodka! Siberian:

Fortress - 45%, the price is almost like that of cognac - almost 12 rubles!
This was ordered for weddings.

Kuban tincture, with a sacramental inscription RUSSIAN VODKA.

Gin, whiskey, brandy, rum:

The fact that they usually didn’t drink in the USSR, because. did not produce. But no one canceled business trips to fraternal countries,
so you could find these drinks:
It is likely that in the "Birch" you could buy.

But this, apparently, was brought in barrels from friendly Cuba and bottled with us.

Bulgarian brandy "Sunny Beach":

By the way, it is produced with the same label to this day. Recently a friend brought it, used it :)

Scotch Whiskey!

So what do you think? :) What did they drink from it?

Dedicated to those who drank it and survived to this day ...
Golden autumn, 1 rub. 15 kopecks. - "Zosya"
Vasisubani, 2 rubles 00 kopecks. - "With Vasya in the bath"
Port wine 777, 3 rubles 40 kopecks - "Three axes", "Logging"
Bile mitzneh, 1 rub. 70 kopecks. - "Biomycin"
Import substitution, it turns out, was relevant in the days of the Soviet Union.

Vermouth, 1 rub. 50 kop. - "Vera Mikhailovna", "Vermouth"
Aroma of gardens, 1 rub. 80 kop. - "Fragrance of backsides"
Autumn garden, 1 rub. 70 kop. - "Fruit-profitable"
Port wine 33, 2 rub. 15 kopecks - "33 misfortunes"
Rkatsiteli, 2 rubles. 50 kopecks - "Doggy style to the target"
Caucasus, 2 rubles 50 kopecks - "The Beggar in the Mountains"
Anapa, 2 rubles 30 kopecks. - "Sunstroke"
Fruit wine, 1 rub. 30 kopecks - "Tears of Michurin"
The most legendary "chatter" of the USSR

Port wine "AGDAM", alcohol 19 vol.%, price 2 rubles. 60 kopecks, - as soon as they didn’t call it - “Like ladies”, “Agdam Bukharyan”, “Agdam Zaduryan”, etc., etc.
This infernal mixture of fermented grape juice, sugar and potato alcohol in the country of victorious socialism was drunk by all the homeless, students, and academics.
Agdamych completed his victorious march across the expanses of the country only in the 90s after the destruction of the cognac factory in the town of Agdam, the most famous city of Azerbaijan, which is now completely wiped off the face of the earth ...

At the request of workers in the alcohol field:
Dessert drink "Volga Dawns", fortress 12% vol., sugar-24%, price - 1 rub. 15 kopecks - a glorious representative of the Soviet "Shmurdyaks".
As a rule, this "dessert" was tried only once, because. the second time, the urge to vomit began at the very first mention.

“Natural herbal tincture with tonic properties” is the long name on the label of another legendary drink of the 70s, Abu Simbel Balsam.
Capacity 0.83 l., fortress 30 degrees, price - 5 rubles. 80 kop.
As we, students of primary courses, were enlightened by experienced senior students in the Tallinn hostel: “Abu” is the best “boot-layer”.
The cork, they taught, must be opened very carefully so as not to damage it, and the bottle must not be thrown away in any case: after emptying it, you need to pour ordinary port wine into it, carefully cork it and - everything is ready for the next romantic date!

And finally, one of the main "gifts" of N.S. Khrushchev to the Soviet people - the wine of Algeria, which, with the light hand of domestic "winemakers", turned into "Solntsedar", "Algerian" and "Pink Vermouth".
The people who survived, having tasted this muck, dubbed it “ink”, “paint for fences”, “insecticide”, etc., etc., but nevertheless, almost 5 million deciliters of this swill came to the Union by tankers, which with difficulty steamed after draining in the village of Solntsedar near Gelendzhik. It was all about the price: "Alzhirskoye" - 14% and 65 kopecks !!!, "Solntsedar" - 20% and 1 rub. 25 kopecks!
3rd liter jar"Solntsedara" for 8 rubles. 80 kopecks - my first alcoholic experience with comrades in the 8th grade in Moscow, it is simply impossible to find decent words to describe the state of the next day.
The Solntsedar, which became a symbol of the era of stagnation, harvested its deadly harvest in the vastness of the USSR until 1985, when Gorbachev, who went down in the history of the country's wine consumption as the Mineral Secretary, began the fight against drunkenness and alcoholism.

"Moscow special vodka"
0.5 l, 40%, price 60 rubles 10 kopecks,
Dishes 50 kopecks, cork 5 kopecks. 1944 - "Kitch"
"Vodka" 0.5 l, 40%, price 3 rub. 62 kop.
1970 - "Crankshaft"
"Vodka" 0.5 l, 40%, price 4 rubles 70 kopecks.
1982 - "Andropovka",
she, - "First Grader" (released in early September),
she, - "Yurkin's dawns" (according to the film)
Vodka "Russian" 0.33l, 40%,
I don’t remember the price, in a Pepsi bottle - Raiska
(in honor of the wife of the "Mineral Secretary of the CPSU" Gorbachev)
Vodka "Russian" 0.1 l, 40% - "Yogurt of the homeless"
I don't remember the price.
Vodka "Strong" ("Krepkaya-Strong"), 0.5 l, ABV 56%.
This very rare vodka of the USSR period, with a strength of 56%. sold mainly to foreigners. The legend about its appearance is associated with the name of Stalin: they say, the leader, who had a weakness for polar explorers, asked them at one of the receptions what they drink during the winter, to which they replied: alcohol diluted to the strength of the parallel, on which they the moment of consumption is at the Pole - 90%, Salekhard - 72%, etc., and already at the next Kremlin reception on the occasion of the award, Stalin treated the conquerors of the North with specially prepared vodka with a strength of 56%, which corresponded to the geographical latitude of Moscow.

Peppers are not only for colds!

And we went with her together, as if on a cloud,
And we came with her to Beijing hand in hand,
She drank Durso, and I drank Pepper
For the Soviet family, exemplary!”

After these lines, Alexander Galich simply does not want to tritely comment on this one of the most popular tinctures of the USSR, therefore, only the facts from the labels:

Bitter tincture "Pepper", 0.5 l, 1991,
35%, the price with the cost of dishes is 8 rubles 00 kopecks.
"Ukrainian horilka with pepper", 0.7 l, 1961,
40%, the price with the cost of dishes is 4 rubles. 40 kop.

There was still in the USSR Tincture "Pepper", 30%, has been produced since 1932, but for more than 30 years of collecting, I never came across a single bottle of it, because it was not just an infusion different varieties allspice and the first remedy for a cold, but also a real holiday for all drinking citizens of the country of the Soviets.





And the port is Taribana. This is death. It was impossible to break the bottle with anything, 0.8l were imported, non-standard bottles, they were not accepted.
Classic 90s)

As you know, the planned economy does not particularly stimulate the development of competition, therefore, unlike Western products, the packaging of which has long attracted the consumer with bright colors, original fonts and pictures with cartoon characters, Soviet goods were produced for decades in the same container, often having a boring and nondescript look. At the same time, it cannot be said that the concept of design was completely absent in the USSR! Today we will remember the 10 most conceptual Soviet packages on which generations and generations of Soviet citizens grew up!

In the Soviet years, match labels were quite diverse, there were even lovers to collect them along with postage stamps and postcards.

The label "AVION" (translated from French as "airplane") had a completely imported look, and meanwhile, its design belongs to the Balabanov match factory located in the Kaluga region.

The factory was founded in 1947, first as a mechanical plant, and since 1952 as a full-fledged match factory. Due to their low cost, Balabanov matches have long been successfully exported, which is why the product needed a special, “pseudo-foreign” packaging that would look decent in both Eastern and Western Europe!

The stylized retro label features a 1920s biplane in the center. The inscription “safety matches” refers to the same era when it was necessary to clarify whether matches were dangerous or not, because sulfur matches were ignited by simple friction (remember the cartoons where the characters light a match on the sole of a boot?).

From matches, schoolchildren made a lot of all kinds of crafts - houses, little men, fabulous birds and fish. A box of matches was perhaps the cheapest Soviet product, it cost only 1 kopeck! However, even if they managed to find a penny on the ground, they still didn’t sell matches to children, because “matches are not a toy for children, buy lighters!”.

Soda

Another "long-liver" that successfully survived all the crises was the packaging of soda from the Sterlitamak soda-cement plant.

In 1936, a group of Soviet geologists discovered huge reserves of limestone in the Sterlitamak Shikhany mountains, and during the exploration of oil fields in the area of ​​the city of Ishimbay, deposits of rock salt, the second most important component of soda, were found. The construction of the plant began even before the war and did not stop throughout the war years. Already in March 1945, the first batch of caustic soda was received!

In April 1975, the Sterlitamak Soda-Cement Plant was renamed into the Soda Production Association, which in December 1994 was registered as an OJSC. In the spring of 2013, Caustic and Soda merged into the Bashkir Soda Company.

The selling design turned out to be useless for soda - this is an essential product, and it will be bought in any package. That is why Russian soda is still produced in primitive red and yellow cardboard packaging in the style of the 70s. Looks like our kids will see it too!

The production of processed cheese was mastered in the USSR in 1934 at the Moscow plant processed cheese No. 1 (later "Karat"). At first, the product was simply called Cheese No. 1.

In the 60s, in the Karat laboratory, under the guidance of M.F. Kulesheva, recipes for the still popular cheeses Druzhba, Volna and Yantar were created.

The low cost contributed to the great distribution, which is why the cheese was popular with the ever-hungry students who came up with the meme: “Friendship cheese - chew it to a friend” and drunkards who took it as a cheap snack with vodka. The answer was an increase in production - by 1972 it exceeded 155 thousand tons, which was equal to about a third of the entire cheese production in the country!

In 1993, Karat became an open joint-stock company. In September 2005, during the Second Moscow Cheese Festival, a monument to Druzhba cheese was erected near the factory building, which reconciled the characters of Krylov's famous fable - a crow and a fox! For 2014, the monthly production of the plant exceeds 100 tons of finished products.

Cigarettes "Belomor"

It can be said without exaggeration - in the USSR, Belomorkanal cigarettes were the most massive! They were very cheap (22 kopecks for 25 pieces) and therefore were accessible even to the lowest strata of the population, who cared little for the high resin content and low quality V class.

The Belomor brand was created in 1932 at the Leningrad factory named after Uritsky. The author of the tobacco blend is technologist Vasily Ioanidi. The author of the drawing is the artist A. Tarakanov. The image of the White Sea-Baltic Canal, built in 1931-1933, was a kind of informational propaganda.

Due to their wide distribution, cigarettes quickly became part of Soviet culture, included in many anecdotes, films and even cartoons (which is worth only the wolf from "Just you wait!"). The cigarette butts of Belomor (in the vernacular BK) introduced the neologism “bull-calf” into the Soviet lexicon. There were a lot of jokes about the diameter of 7.62 cigarettes, which fully corresponded to the caliber of an automatic cartridge!

Currently, the production of cigarettes in nostalgic packs has been resumed - with terrifying quality tobacco and a huge inscription "Smoking kills", completely destroying the packaging concept.

In the early 60s, the government of the USSR adopted a new food program, which noted the need to create high-quality, but affordable milk chocolate. In the 64th year, the confectioners of the Moscow factory "Red October" developed a new recipe, which was later introduced at the factories "Rot Front", them. Babaev and many others.

A new product needed a beautiful wrapper. But the proposed, it was, classic - Vasnetsov's painting "Alyonushka", did not receive approval from the management. Then, through the newspaper "Vechernyaya Moskva", a competition was announced for a photo of a girl as an "advertising person" for a new product.

Thousands of citizens responded to the call by sending photos of their children of different sex and age. The work of the Honored Worker of Culture of the RSFSR Alexander Gerinas won - in a photograph taken by him 4 years ago, he captured his eight-month-old daughter Lena in a silk scarf.

The photo was redrawn by artist Nikolai Maslov, awarding the girl with bright blue eyes. In this form, the chocolate bar has been produced since 1965 to this day. In 2000, matured Elena "Alenka" Gerinas filed a lawsuit - for 35 years of successful sales of chocolate with her image, she did not receive a penny. But the court sided with the capitalists of the producers, recognizing the image of "Alenka" as an "independent work of art", not indebted to the original.

elephant tea

“The same taste, the same tea was in a pack of tea with an elephant that fell behind a sideboard 30 years ago”
(an anecdote of the beginning of the "zero")

A notable symbol of the Soviet era were packs of black long leaf tea, which everyone simply called "tea with an elephant." The packaging design was developed in 1967 by order of the Moscow Tea Factory.

Despite the low demand for professional design in the USSR, apparently, the manufacturers were still familiar with its technologies. The elephant on the packaging invariably referred to India, creating the complete illusion for the consumer that it was 100% indian tea! In fact, it was a "blend" - mixed varieties of tea in the ratio: 55% Georgian (it was noticeably inferior in quality), 25% Madagascar, 15% Indian and 5% Ceylon.

In 1972, "tea with an elephant" entered the wide sale. The color of the packs and the number of elephants varied depending on the composition.

At the beginning of the 2000s, the brand “That Same Tea” was actively promoted, exploiting the positive association that had developed over decades, when people used to see only a quality product in packs with an elephant.

The primacy of the invention of vodka is still contested by Poland and Russia. The attitude of the leadership of the Soviet Union to vodka was ambivalent - on the one hand, drunkenness was sharply condemned by Soviet propaganda, on the other hand, the monopoly sale of vodka brought huge income to the state.

There were many varieties of vodka. Old-timers will undoubtedly remember "Russian", "Moscow", "Stolichnaya" ("anise, unfortunately not ..."), "Siberian", "Hunting", "Extra" and, of course, just "Vodka" for 4-70, received the affectionate nickname "Andropovka" among the people.

- "Newly Blessed"?
- God be with you, my dear! Darya Petrovna makes excellent vodka herself.
- Don't tell me, Philip Philipovich. Everyone claims that the new one is very decent. Thirty degrees.
- And the vodka should be FORTY degrees - this is the first thing. And secondly, God knows what they splashed there. Can you tell what comes to their mind?
- Anything.
(From the movie "Heart of a Dog")

But of all the varieties, we will probably choose “Wheat”, since it was its packaging with a yellow field, sheaves, houses and forest that the authors remember the most! It was produced from the 76th year and before the rise in price of the 81st year it cost 4 rubles. 42 kopecks, after - 6 rubles. 20 kopecks (without the cost of dishes 5 rubles 13 kopecks).

It was believed that it is based on wheat raw materials and therefore has a special "wheat" softness, in contrast to the cheaper "Russian". Most likely, it was once so, but in the 80th year a new GOST was developed, and the quality dropped noticeably, the “bread flavor” disappeared, but the cost increased to 10 rubles. In the late 80s - early 90s, vodka was sold only by coupons. They took her not only drinking people, because in conditions when money is worth nothing, it was vodka that was the hardest and most reliable currency!

Produced "Pshenichnaya" and now, though in a different container and with a slightly modified label, which says that this vodka is made "according to old Russian recipes" (!?).

Milk in triangular bags

Although today such packages seem to be something very Soviet, their authorship belongs to the Swede Eric Wallenberg. The idea was simple but effective: to use the material in the best possible way. In 1951, Ruben Rausing founded the Tetra Pak company in Lund, named after the very tetrahedral package (this pyramid can still be seen on the company logo).

In the late 1950s, the USSR government signed the first contract with Tetra Pak for the supply of equipment for the dairy industry, and soon several Soviet enterprises were equipped with liquid packaging lines in Tetra Classic.

Unfortunately, the image of the pyramids has developed a negative one. The fact is that only the first cars were Swedish, the rest were simply copied by our craftsmen. I wanted the best, but it turned out as always - the pyramids made on Soviet clones were constantly flowing. The bottoms of the pallets on which they were transported were forever filled with milk. But it was very convenient to drink from the pyramids, cutting off one corner! The cost of one pyramid was 16 kopecks.

In the late 80s, among the first foreign companies, Tetra Pak opened a joint venture in the USSR. Triangular containers were replaced by liter rectangles (remember those blue packs of ears?).

Now the interests of the company in Russia are represented by a subsidiary of ZAO Tetra Pak. Tetra Pak has a packaging material production plant in Lobnya (Moscow Region), the largest in Eastern Europe, in Russia. A total of 520 Tetra Pak filling lines for liquid food products have been installed at Russian food enterprises.

Pepsi in glass bottles

The world-famous Pepsi-Cola drink was invented in 1898 by Caleb Bradham, an American pharmacist from New Bern, North Carolina. The soda, which he at first modestly called "Brad's Drink" ("Brad's Drink"), included pepsin and kola nut extract. The drink received its current name only in 1903 ...

In 1971, during the next détente of relations with the "Western partners", an agreement was concluded on the supply of Pepsi to the USSR. Instead PepsiCo became the official distributor of "Capital" vodka in America, which, despite all the sanctions, our country quite successfully exported.

On the eve of the Moscow Olympics, mass sale of the drink in branded kiosks began in Moscow. From typical Soviet stalls - gray aluminum boxes - Pepsi outlets were distinguished by bright colors, streamlined shapes and a large logo on the roof. The retail price of the drink was 31 kopecks per 0.33 liter bottle, which was twice the cost of any Soviet lemonade (despite the fact that it was bottled in 0.5 liter bottles).

In 1986, Pepsi became a sponsor of the Goodwill Games, and two years later the company released the first commercial commercial in the history of Soviet television.

Although the author of the rounded red and blue logo was not a Soviet artist (with a similar design, the drink was sold all over the world from 1973 to 1991), glass bottles with a white label have forever remained one of the symbols of the perestroika era! Unlike today's products, the inscription "Pepsi Cola" was made in Russian.

In the early 90s, fragile and heavy bottles gave way to our usual plastic containers and aluminum cans. Today, especially for those suffering from nostalgia, the production of Pepsi-Cola in glass bottles has been resumed by the Aqualife production company (the same “drinks from Chernogolovka”), although this pleasure is surprisingly expensive - about 65 rubles per 0.33 l. And, characteristically, they buy!

Condensed milk

The technology for the production of condensed milk was discovered in 1856 by the American inventor Gale Borden, who was looking for ways to store food for a long time. The first plant for the production of condensed milk in Russia was opened in Orenburg in 1881.

The famous blue-white-blue design was developed in 1939 by Iraida Fomina, the daughter of a famous architect. In terms of their contribution to popular culture, cans of Soviet condensed milk are often compared with the legendary canned food. tomato soup Campbell's designed by Andy Warhol!

A special delicacy in the USSR was considered boiled condensed milk! True, the industry did not produce it, and Soviet housewives cooked it themselves, boiling jars in pots of water for a long time. This method was very dangerous - it was only necessary to overexpose the jar a little, and it exploded, dousing the walls and ceiling with thick brown smudges!

During the shortages of the 80s, condensed milk and stew were among the most sought after products. The talk of the town was Gomel condensed milk, which was considered "radioactive" after the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

Nevertheless, it is the Belarusian condensed milk (already of the Rogachev Dairy Plant) that today is the main successor of Soviet traditions. And, just like Druzhba cheese in Moscow, there is a monument to Soviet condensed milk in Rogachev!

But in Russia, experiments to reduce the cost of the product led to the appearance of goods such as "Condensed", "Varenka", "USSR" and other dairy "products", which, due to the high content palm oil They have no right to be called "condensed milk". Be vigilant and read the label carefully!

The construction of wineries was immediately launched, of which there were 193 in 1940, and they produced almost 13.5 million decaliters of table and dessert wines. By the way, interesting fact- until 1936 in the USSR there was no such thing as "vodka" - 40% of the drink was called " bread wine". In 1937, the production of Soviet champagne was launched and standard conditions for vintage wines were developed. Only the Massandra winery in the Crimea could produce them. At the same time, mass production of cognac wine material began.

During the Patriotic War, vineyards in many occupied lands were burned. But the great attention paid by the government to their restoration made it possible to return the pre-war volumes of wine production after 5 years. A big blow to the industry was made during the years of perestroika, when almost a third of the vineyards in all the republics were cut down under the root as part of the anti-alcohol campaign. Many wineries never recovered after the collapse of the USSR.

Wine labels of the USSR - features

In the early years of Soviet rule, wine labels were produced without any standard procedure. They were most often oval in shape, with the inscription wine and an indication of the manufacturer. Since the wine was poured into containers that could be obtained, the volume of the drink was not indicated. Such original labels of the USSR of the first years have not been preserved. But their appearance can be judged from photographs of those years.