Russian beer question

This question may be comically vague.

About five years ago I visited a friend in St. Petersburg, Russia. I had some beer there that I remember as being REALLY good at the time, but can't remember the brand. I've lost contact with my friend so I can't ask him.

I believe that it was some kind of amber lager. This was a while ago so I may be mistaken. The big thing I remember about it was that it had a lind drawing of a guy with a beard on the label. He looked like some kind of monk. I wasn't able to find anything through google or bing.

Just curious. Any help would be appreciated.

Either of those?

THAT'S IT! You're the best!

Now, can anyone here read Cyrillic and tell me the brand name?

Looks like it's Stepan Razin - that's the large print around the guy in red on both bottles. I don't know what the words at the bottom are - presumably the type of beer - the first one is Martovskoye and the second is maybe Kalinkin ? Couldn't get a on-line translator to decode those.

Of course I only had one year of Russian in college and that was 44 years ago, so I have forgotten all of it.

Well, it may not be good any longer. It's Hiney-ken now!
http://www.heinekeninternational.com/stepan+razin.aspx

Awww man.

You know, I'm usually a pretty right wing guy. I'm all about Capitalism and free markets and all that. But stuff like this makes me rethink my position. The thought of all the quirky little local establishments of the world being gobbled up and everything becoming a homogenized mess of Wal Marts, McDonalds, and Budweiser beer makes me wake up screaming.

Anyway, thanks for the help. It really means a lot to me.

Uhh, Stephan Razin, according to the link, was a 2.3 million hectoliter brewery. That's fairly close to Boston Brewing Company size, not exactly a quirky local establishment.

MountainManWannabe said:

THAT'S IT! You're the best!

Now, can anyone here read Cyrillic and tell me the brand name?

Click to expand...

My pleasure

MountainManWannabe said:

This question may be comically vague.
The big thing I remember about it was that it had a lind drawing of a guy with a beard on the label. He looked like some kind of monk.

Click to expand...

Just as an aside, the picture is definitely an image of the beers namesake, Stepan Razin, who was a Cossack leader during a major uprising against the Czar. Gotta love a beer with a sense of history! :rockin: