Folks in the Balkans are irked that Coke is introducing a pasteurized, bottled version of the local Soviet-era classic drink, kvas.
“It’s nothing more than cola,” grumbles Vyacheslav Shamarin, who nevertheless brews a mass-market kvas.
The drink used to be made from locally grown rye, beet sugar, yeast and stale bread. It had a short shelf life, so it couldn’t be bottled and street vendors sold it by the glass.
Today, kvas producers use a syrupy concentrate imported from Germany, and the drink is pasteurized and sold in bottles.
Many fans of the drink say they preferred Soviet-era kvas because it tasted fresher and was more authentic.
And you either liked it or went to the gulag.
Squeezed into a white frock stained brown with kvas, he won’t reveal his recipe but insists its the closest version of the real thing left in Latvia. But he concedes the kvas he produces is pasteurized, too, giving it a slight mass-produced flavor. And his firm did recently succumb to competitive pressures and start making what Shamarin calls “healthy” kvas.
“The kids love it,” he says.
Leaning in, he sheepishly reveals its appeal: “More sugar.”
(Via Blather)