Stolichnaya Cristall Vodka
Your Price: $ ?…
Buy Stolichnaya Cristall Vodka USSR
I first had this in Leningrad ( now St Petersburg ) back in 1989 when it was still Soviet times. Back then, the major hotels had a “special” bar for the Western tourist and businessman where the guests were herded into . It was an orchestrated Commie task to get hard Western currency for overpriced fare.
I took a purposeful detour and sojourned into the “discouraged” locals bar. Immediately identifying and branding me as just another North American ( insert adjective) , the room eyeballed me as either being hopelessly lost stepping off the elevator, or just a must-to-avoid capitalist pig worthy of scorn.
After asking for my passport that identified me as a Canadian, the mood immediately softened quickly with a new jovial lively debate about the common Holy Grail … hockey . There was enough interchange of broken Russian and limited English to make it work.. The 1972 Super Series was well remembered by all gathered at the bar
I respectfully asked for what vodka shots THEY preferred to drink as a visitor’s polite sampler effort … and that’s when the STOLY CHRISTALL came out from a back cabinet.
After my room number was verified as billable , I was offered it straight up Russki style …. Interlocking arms shots ….. It was the full nirvana / ambrosia quality they predicted….. it was as smooth as ice over glass ,.,the best I’ve EVER had. It was a big difference from what I knew as premium vodka …. A clear proxy for a sipping special item.
The bartender in limited English characterized most of the so-called premium brand vodkas we know and now served in the Western bar upstairs as bottled from “a moose with bad kidneys” (aka moose piss) ….mockingly served to the unknowing Westerners….but considered as daily plonk to locals to guzzle down their snorkel .
It was an event that I fondly and wistfully remember. I’ve not been able to get any back here in Toronto. My loss ….
