The Russian drunkard gave the following names to various cheap wines that were sold in Soviet stores: “fruit-profitable” (fruit and berry wine), “turpentine”, “ink”, “port bag”, “fire extinguisher”, “apple”, “ Sukhinkoe”, “Sukharevich”, “Sukhach”, “Sukhi” (in honor of the Czech hockey player Sukhi), “Sukhoi”, “Sukhachevsky”, “Sukhe-Bator” (named after the Mongolian military leader), “Sukhovo-Kobylin” (named after Russian writer Sukhovo-Kobylin), “kreplenka”, “kreplyak”, “vinegar”, “spill”, “loose”, “sour”, “sour”, “sour”, “wormy”, “sabonis” (fruit- berry wine, poured into a liter dish), “fruit-sand”, “rubella”, “biomitsin” (the name of the wine brand is “White strong”), “pop”, “shipka” (in honor of the Bulgarian city of Shipka, liberated from the Turks by the Russians ), “sunshine”, “sunny drink”, “vinchishko”, “wine”, “wine”, “winchester” (after the name of the American rifle), etc.

As a completely separate, stand-alone drink, “moonshine” entered the everyday life of a Soviet person. In the West, homemade wines and vodkas are referred to as “non-commercial spirits”. In the USSR, moonshiners were imprisoned for 10 years. Synonymous with the word “moonshine”, the Russian drunkard, depending on the quality of the product, its components, made the words: “pervak”, “KVN” (“Strong. Smelly. Inexpensive”), “kishmishevka”, “cognac three beetroot”, “horse meat”, ” kureha”, “wet dollar”, “bormach”, “raw”, “Pasha Angelina” (named after the record-breaking tractor driver of the thirties), “pervachok”, “fumes”, “distillation”, “distillation”, “besogon”, “Bulbachka”, “Burochanka”, “vodka”, “currency”, “gasoline”, “burn”, “Denis Davydov”, “zelenukha”, “zusya”, “fool”, “kosorylovka”, “product”, ” self-ignition”, “pouring”, “samizdat”, “homemade”, “homemade”, “moonshine”, “samopal”, “scooter”, “self-planting”, “self-propelled”, “self-propelled”, “dump truck”, “self-made” , “samtrest”, “beet”, “semitaburetovka”, “sivushnyak”, “twig”, “shamogonov”, “stool”, “tarragon”, “three beetroot”, “khana”, “chemistry”, “chvir”, “chibirches”, “chistogon”, “zashiben”, “chreda”, “chikhir”, “rotten”, “shmurdyak”, etc.

Moonshine can be made from rye, barley, wheat, stale bread, rice, millet, corn, peas, potatoes, molasses, fruit juices, sugar, pumpkin, starch, syrups, expired and spoiled jams, fruit drinks, apples, pears, honey, plums , dried fruits, sugar beets, tomato paste, sweets, halva, cookies. For flavor, you can successfully use chicken manure, calcium carbide, moss, fertilizers, tobacco, shag, dichlorvos, etc.

Alexander Nikishin,
vodka historian