The Alesya mentioned at the end is incidentally a friend of mine, Alesya Andropova. She's the grandniece of Yury Andropov. I didn't want to give away that I was quoting a friend, so I did some little creative reworking of the last name...
BTW, she'll be in the Washington, DC, area in a couple of months, if anyone wants to show around a nice 26-year-old Russian woman who's into dancing and Russian pop music and also happens to be a relative of a former General Secretary of the CPSU. :)
Chris Doss The Russia Journal ----------------------------
Alcohol-free vodka sets up to bomb
By CHRIS DOSS / The Russia Journal Vodka has long been associated with Russia. Indeed, in a recent opinion poll published in the newspaper Argumenty i Fakty, respondents identified the drink as the second most-appropriate symbol of the country – just after the Kremlin and just before the Kalashnikov assault rifle and the national flag. France is known for its wine, Germany for its beer-soused outdoor gardens and Ireland for its whiskey – but only Russia can lay claim to having such potent and pernicious firewater as vodka as its national beverage.
However, a recent article published in the weekly Komsomolskaya Pravda – "In the Moscow Suburbs, They Have Invented Non-Alcoholic Vodka! What the Hell for?" – claimed that a bunch of Moscow Oblast dacha chemists has come up with a non-alcoholic vodka blend. If they succeed in commercializing their venture, toasts in Russia may get a lot shorter.
According to the paper, an inventor – identified only as Volodya – living in the suburban Moscow Oblast town of Pushkin, has invented a substance which, when added to vodka, interferes with the beverage’s intoxicating effects.
The Komsomolskaya Pravda story said the inventor refused to give his last name or to be photographed with his invention. According to the article, Volodya was "shy." When The Russia Journal contacted the newspaper, it refused to give the name of the inventor or his whereabouts, and repeated the line about Volodya’s painful shyness.
Despite this lack of candor, however, the paper did say the booze-free vodka – which was sampled by its correspondents – had a lighter taste than its untreated counterpart.
Olga Folova, press secretary for Kristall, a manufacturer of alcoholic vodka, said, "It’s a rather strange invention. The purpose of vodka is to cause euphoria."
"Possibly, it might be useful for people who want to pretend to be drinking," she added.
This was a view corroborated by several vodka drinkers themselves. Svetlana Kolina, a pensioner, responded at first with bewilderment and, after a few moments’ thought, said, "I suppose it might be a good idea for people who want to drink shots in a social setting but don’t want to get drunk."
Her daughter, Lyudmila, who is an editor at a local newspaper, said she found the idea rather preposterous.
"That is the most bizarre idea I have ever heard," she said.
As to the possible commercial viability of such a project, Kristall’s Folova expressed incredulity.
"I can’t say anything about the commercial prospects of such an invention," she said. "Anything goes on the market. We don’t plan to use it, but anything goes."
If the statement of one vodka drinker, Alesya Brezhnevskaya, a personal assistant in a pharmaceutical company, serve as any indication about the prospective success of the non-alcoholic vodka, the future looks dim indeed: "Are you crazy? Where on Earth did you ever see non-alcoholic vodka? I only drink vodka to get drunk. My answer is NO."