Cider cannot be canceled in Russia: experts discussed how to protect consumers

Apple wine can become national pride if its reputation is taken care of

Producers of natural cider became collateral victims of mass poisoning with the low-alcohol cocktail “Mr. Cider” in several Volga regions – their reputation was dealt a monstrous and undeserved blow. Not everyone wanted to delve into the essence of what happened, so the stamp remained: “People got poisoned by cider.” Although this drink, mixed with methyl alcohol, had nothing to do with real cider based on apple juice. Specialists today are faced with a difficult task: how to save their reputation, protect themselves and consumers from future tragedies and increase the level of knowledge of Russians about cider as a genre?

Cider is one of the most promising drinks for Russia, since we definitely have no shortage of apples. Therefore, as Alexander Kazakov, chairman of the National Association of Traditional Cider Producers, noted, apples can be called “northern grapes”. If Russian wine can still raise questions among skeptics (although in vain!), then there are all the prerequisites for the development of cider making in the country.

“Today, cider is produced in more than 70 regions of Russia, and we have everything to make very expressive ciders with regional (terroir) features,” Kazakov said during a thematic meeting on Thursday, June 22. — Cider is capable of becoming the Russian national drink. Now we need to understand: what is cider? We have three types of cider – traditional apple cider, poiret (pear cider) or fruit cider. In any case, only freshly squeezed juice can become the basis for it, this is a drink of natural fermentation. We believe that in connection with recent events, the question of fixing the name “cider” has arisen. It is necessary to separate bona fide manufacturers from those who make drinks from concentrate. We look with slight envy at the older brothers-winemakers who have already managed to do this – the name “wine” has already been fixed. We want to follow the same path.

Kazakov emphasized that such an approach is absolutely justified, because. the production of cider is almost indistinguishable from the production of wine – only the raw materials are different, but the process is as similar as possible. Even the terminology used by winemakers and cidermakers is the same – they talk about aging in a barrel, about maceration (infusing on the pulp), the level of residual sugar, experimenting with different styles of fermentation.

Also, Alexander Kazakov noted that the manufacturer of methyl poison, which killed more than a dozen people, had swill registered as beer drinks, but the word “cider” was used in one way or another in the names of 39 out of 43 drinks in its assortment.

– It was done for marketing, because cider is popular today and everyone is talking about it. But it’s not even a beer drink! There was alcohol, which is prohibited in our industry. If the cider house wants to use ethyl alcohol, then a separate license is needed, this is very strictly regulated. These criminals imitated beer drinks, because. excise tax on low-alcohol cocktails is twice as high as on beer and cider. We have already sent a request to find out: how was it called cider, if it doesn’t even smell like an apple?

Alina Lokteva, another cider expert, organizer of thematic events, stressed that today the most important task is to increase the level of consumer literacy – it is necessary that people continue to learn about cider and how it is made.

“Now there has been such an information wave that has covered us all. And only knowledge could save her. Yes, there was a tragedy, but you can’t zero out the cider and say it doesn’t exist, as some people try to. On the contrary, it is necessary to tell what and how. Headlines along the lines of “Russians got poisoned by cider” are unacceptable. I naively think that if someone who bought the poison knew that cider is apples, things could be different. Educational work is the basis of our business, we must tell that orchards are growing, apples are ripening, and Russia has excellent cider. Today we have about 5,000 active enthusiastic consumers in Moscow alone, but the beauty of cider is that it has all the prospects to become popular in the provinces as well.

The main question is: how to protect consumers and not kill the industry? Specialists and major players in the cider market are in favor of introducing a minimum retail price for cider – after all, a poison of unknown origin is also dangerous because there is no control over its turnover, and the low price makes it affordable and tempting. MRC is proposed to be set at the level of 150 rubles per 1 liter.