Drink Up!

On NPR Friday afternoon, I heard a story about the increased popularity of beer in Russia since the rise of capitalism. Seems they used to have a choice between a couple of watery beers and now they have 30, 40 Russian beers to choose from. Problem is folks consider beer something akin to a soft drink (apparently, it's even marketed as a health drink), they can drink it anywhere in public, and they're drinking loads of it. One guy offered this amusing if alarming quote:

I don't think beer is an alcoholic drink. How could it be when it tastes so refreshing?"