If alcohol is the social lubricant of choice for much of the Western world, you may expect to find Russian society pickling in the stuff. Not quite a fair perception, but then again, it’s no baseless lie either. Mikhail Gorbachev was so concerned about it that he restricted production and sale of vodka, earning himself the disapproval of a nation and the unofficial title of Comrade Orange Juice.

So what exactly are Russians drinking today? While vodka retains its strong position, the less traditional beer has made astonishing progress over the last 20 years. Armenian cognac is another firm favourite, and ‘champagne’ - usually Russian or more highly praised, Ukrainian. I often wonder that the French don’t have something to say about such free and easy use of their regional product names. I suppose it pays to pick your opponent carefully.

How to drink in Russia
Away from the trendy and overpriced bars of central Moscow, there remains a strongly Russian etiquette and ritual to social drinking. Spirits are not sipped and certainly not mixed, rather they are downed en masse, and always after a toast. Most English-Russian phrase books give ‘na zdorovie’ (lit. to health) as the equivalent to our ‘cheers’. In reality, this is but one of many formulae, and a pretty stingy little one at that. People tend to go into much more detail than that when making a toast, and with a level of sentimentality you may find awkward to match, depending on your culture (my background as a Brit doesn’t allow me to get anywhere near). Oh, and don’t forget to look your friends straight in the eye when clinking and drinking. Don’t refill your own glass without pouring for others, and in general women do not pour their own drink. Remember that the basis of Russian culture is not individualism, and act accordingly. You may feel perfectly entitled to choose a different drink from those around you and sip it at your leisure, but in so doing you will be creating divisions and distancing yourself from the ‘collective’, in the eyes of many.

What if you don’t drink? You don’t need to avoid parties altogether, and most people will understand, although they may spend a good while trying to persuade you. Many guides suggest that you pretend you are an alcoholic as an excuse not to drink. While this is one way to approach a potentially awkward situation, if it’s a lie, it shows a terrible lack of respect for the people you are with.

As I see it, the best experiences come through relaxing your own social programming and taking on a little of the host culture. So, When in Russia – na zdorovie!