If we recall the ordinary festive feast of the late 80s, then quite often it was monotonous, both in the set of dishes and delicacies, and in the assortment of the alcohol component.
Do not even strain your memory to remember how in those days, along with the traditional "Soviet" champagne
a place of honor on the table was occupied by some original foreign half-liter. And unprincipled what could have been poured there - rum "Havana club", vodka "Smirnoff" or sweet
liquor "Amaretto". Foreign - is already respectable and fashionable. This was later, in the 90s, shops and roadside stalls replenished their assortment with various “Rasputins”, “DaniloFFy”, “GorbacheFFy”, “PetroFFy” and similar FF-mi. And also there was an indispensable alcohol "Royal", lemon or melon "Stopka" and much more alcoholic and tasty.
Thus, already in the early 90s, exotic fruits and vegetables, as well as outlandish alcoholic beverages were stably sold in Russian stores. Undoubtedly, one of these products was Royal alcohol - an unusual “thing” for a Russian person, because for a long time, many people got ordinary medical alcohol through familiar doctors or through workers of distilleries, the technological processes of which were associated with the use of ethanol .
And suddenly, shocking times came in our country, when it was completely free to purchase the Royal alcohol, which everyone could dilute in the right proportion with ordinary water and drink for pleasure until it got bored.
Using this simple method, it was easy to get up to 5 half-liters of almost 40-degree home-made vodka from one liter bottle of 96% Royal alcohol.
With the advent of such an opportunity, the imagination of the Russian people was cast out with recipes for a combustible drink as best as she could and could. Advanced "gourmets" made long-ripening berry tinctures. To do this, it was necessary to buy and pour the popular Royal alcohol into a 3-liter jar, and add different berries for color and taste: raspberries, chokeberry, or red and black currants. Six months later, it was possible to taste handmade liquor, which was much tastier than purchased.
The homeland of fiery water was either Belgium or Holland. There were speculations that the Royal alcohol was made by Poland. The latest version seems very unlikely, as the Polish people themselves stocked this drink through Russian shuttles. At that time, the cost of Royal alcohol was about 40 thousand Polish zlotys.
Recalling the past times when the import of alcohol became a paradise for a Russian person, modern analysts regard this as an attempt at genocide against Russia.
Now that alcohol can be seen on sale, most of it is still used only for medical purposes and is not used for the preparation of alcoholic beverages. However, the recipes of tinctures are still stored at home for every Russian person.
The main thing is to remember that no matter how attracted to alcohol, the Ministry of Health warns that the use of alcoholic beverages is harmful to health.