DRINKS
Tea and Coffee — Tea (black or green) is common
and comes in various forms and is usually made strong and mixed
with hot water when served. It may well be served in a bowl
rather than a cup. Coffee is more likely to be instant
served, without milk.
Arak (Kyrgyz for Vodka) the most common and popular form of hard
alcohol — watch out for Samagonka — home made vodka.
When drinking vodka — watch your hosts — Russians
tend to drain their glasses — «down in one» —
and so do many Kyrgyz — but a lot of Kyrgyz
only drink half the glass.
Cognac — Kyrgyz Cognac is the local form of brandy.
It comes in various qualities some of which are quite good.
Champagne — dryish and crisp when well cooled.
Wine — Kyrgyzstan does grow grapes and does produce wine.
Most of it fairly sweet and not to the visitors«taste.
Beer — many brands of imported beers are now available
and a German-Kyrgyz joint venture produces Steinbrau, a German
type beer brewed locally in Bishkek. Most local brands are cheaper
but do not keep well and need to be drunken ñâåæèé —
«fresh» (i. e. within three days).
Kumys — (or koumiss) — fermented mare«s milk,
is an acquired taste. Kumys is sold from the roadside throughout
the country in the summer but it is best from the herders
themselves in more remote mountain regions such as around Son-Kul.
Refusing a drink of kumys can cause offence. The milk is poured
into a vessel made from a cleaned sheep»s skin, which
has been smoked by burning pine branches to give the drink a special
smell and taste and it is beaten periodically with a special
stick called a «bishkek». The traditional way of making
koumiss is for mare«s milk to be stored in animal
skins (chinach), which has been cleaned and smoked over a fire of pine
branches to give the drink a special smell and taste. One third
of yesterday»s milk is mixed with new milk and allowed
to ferment in the warmth of the yurt. It is then
churned, beaten with a wooden stick (a bishkek) and becomes
alcoholic before turning into lactic acid. In the 1840"s, Russian
doctors discovered that kumys had curative properties and used it for
treating tuberculosis, anaemia, chronic lung diseases and gynaecological
and skin diseases. Some 16 special sanatoria were established which
treated patients with lots of fresh air, exercise and koumiss. They
served a number of famous people including members of the
imperial family, Leo Tolstoy, Maxim Gorky, and even a minor British
Member of Parliament who made the journey to Central Asia especially
to undergo the treatment. Unfortunately, traditional kumys can be stored
for only up to three days, so production is limited
to the milking period of mares. To solve this problem,
a method of producing pasteurised kumys was developed allowing
treatment all year round, and even export. A special facility has
recently started for the production of pasteurised kumys in the
Naryn region.
Bozo — an alcoholic drink made from boiled, fermented
millet grains resembling beer.
Maksim — (Shoro is a brand name which is sold
from Barrels on Bishkek streets) — is a wheat
based drink that Kyrgyz like to drink in the summer.
Airan (also known as Kefir) — is a milk drink
that resembles a drinking yoghurt.
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