Russia ‘legalises’ whisky production

Russia can now legally make whisky and moonshine after the introduction of new government standards for the production of grain distillates, reports claim.

According to Russian news channel RBC, although whisky and moonshine were common in the Russian spirits market, there was no state standard for their legal production in Russia – so to satisfy demand both spirits were either imported into the federation from other countries such as Lithuania, Poland and Bulgaria, or made illegally.
The only exception was Russian whisky brand Praskoveyskoe, which came up with a “technical specification” for the spirit to gain permission from the Ministry of Agriculture to market it.

However, now a standard for Russian production of grain distillation has been introduced, Russian producers of vodka are reportedly “debating the advent of Russian whisky”.
Last year, a Russian politician called for the production process of Russian vodka to be legally defined, despite fears it would “deal a blow” to the industry.

In February, Russia slashed vodka prices by around 16% due to fears that spiralling costs are driving consumers to drink bootleg spirits.