Russian Booze

We have great neighbors. And nowadays there's something to be said about that. I remember as a kid that everyone knew their neighbors and we all looked out for each other. And god forbid you misbehaved at a friend's house. Before you could walk in the door, your mom already knew what you did.....and she was waiting for you.

But nowadays with people being more transient and busier than their parents, it seems that in many neighborhoods people don't get to know their neighbors.

We're lucky that we live in a place where we know almost all of our neighbors. And we look out for each other. Whenever Biscuit Boy and I travel, we have our next door neighbors get our paper and mail.....and vice-versa. And we've gotten into the habit of bringing back little thank you gifts for each other. Whenever we go to Florida, we bring back key lime candy for our neighbors. They, in turn, bring back some other nummy goody from their travels. It's works well.

Just last week, our neighbors came back from a 2 week cruise in Russia. They traveled from St. Petersburg to Moscow. It was a wonderful trip and they had a great time. But they didn't bring us back any Russian candy.......They brought back booze. They gave us a little five pack of Russian vodkas and other liqueurs.

But since our Russian is non-existent, we're still not exactly sure what is in those cute little bottles. Some investigating on the Internet helped us identify three of the five bottles, but the other two remain a mystery.
This is the package it all came in. Haven't got a clue what it says.

Cowberry beverage

The first bottle we identified was this one. It's some sort of brewed drink made with Cowberries. According to a few websites the cowberry is also known as the lingonberry, foxberry, mountain cranberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea). It is an uncultivated member of the cranberry family and is primarily used in northern Europe to make jams and preserves.

Cranberry Brewed Beverage

Bottle number 2 was another brewed beverage made with cranberries. According the the web site, the taste of cranberry really stands out against the background of grain alcohol. Yoweeeee! Sounds like potent stuff.

Vodka

Third in the Russian beverage bonanza was a tasty little Vodka. The description says this vodka "expresses the joy of the meeting of old friends better than words." Well, of course it would, after you had enough of it you'd be meeting lots of your old friends, Earllllllll, the Porcelain God, the technocolor yawn, etc. etc. etc.

Cognac

And that's about all we could identify. We think the fourth bottle is some type of cognac. We got as far as translating the large word on the label to mean cognac but that's as far as we got.

Special Vodka?

And last but not least. We know this one is a type of vodka but can't pinpoint what type it is. It does have a date on the label of 1898. So my guess is that it's some type of reserve or special vodka.

If you know what any of these last two items are, would you tell me?

I know we could just crack them open and taste them but Biscuit Boy wants to wait for his dad when he comes up to visit later this month. They're usually tequila connoisseurs but have decided to branch out with these five little bottles.

When asked if I had any problems with waiting, I said "Nyet."