Alcohol Packaging

Just a brief one for you State-siders. You buy your beer in six-packs, (in the Northeast, anyway) liquor and wine are sold in special stores, beer is always sold in 12-oz cans or bottles, etc... The norm?

Not here.

The standard beer bottle is half a liter, or 18 oz. (Also, practically all beer bottles state their relative alcohol content (4-6% for normal beers) - look at your bottles and see if and where Anheuser-Busch does that.) 12 oz (33 cl) are sold here, but usually western brands, and are less popular. Prices range from 40-75 cents for that half liter, too. But beer quality is way up from the bad old days, and quite competitive with our own micro-brews.

Now for the fun part - many brands sell (quite well, too) 1.5 and 2-liter plastic bottles, the latter going for about $1.60. (The six-pack is 2 liters, of course)

The downside is no six-packs. Cases (of at least 24) or singles. No compromises.

1 and 2 liter wine boxes are popular here, too.

Now for the wierd - "cocktails" (mixed drinks). Gin and tonic in a 12-oz can, anyone? How about a Bloody Mary or screwdriver? No problem. Also some other wierd (and sometimes disgusting) fruity combinations as well.

And yesterday, I saw what made me sit down and write this....

Popular Russian mixes (in glass bottles) normally prepared only at parties - The "Russian Yorzh"* (Beer and vodka), the French Yorzh (Rum and wine), "Northern Lights (vodka and champaign) and more.

You really don't know what you're missing...