Kvass Quest! Help Me Add This

You're in luck! We actually have a member who can read Russian (I assume that's what that alphabet is) and may be able to help. Calling @sweetsimon.

 

“rye bread crumbs”? Is that an odd translation or is this brewed using crumbs from actual loaves of rye bread?

 

Thanks, I knew rye was used, but didn't realize it was actual rye bread.

 

Based on my readings on the topic I would say that homemade kvass today is normally a mixture of bread, sugar and yeast, potentially flavored with peppermint (the use of which appears alot in historical accounts of kvass as well). If one looks at 19th century material however there seems to have been a greater degree of overlap between kvass and beer, where they could mix malt and unmalted cereals and or bread, and or sugar, and ferment the resulting brew with yeast. With the inclusion of at least some malt and yeast being the common features. But at the same time these forms of kvass appear to have existed alongside simpler mixtures of bread and sugar in this same time period. With sugar long being limited in supply and expensive for the average peasant family it seems reasonable to me to think that the bread and sugar kvass was developed from the malt and flour/bread mixtures, rather than the other way around. Malting and brewing is after all an ancient way of turning grain into sugar, available to most any person who grew grain. And the use of unmalted grains alongside malt is of course no modern invention, it did not start with adjunct lager beers, as is evident by its use in Belgian brewing historically.

I've seen it noted in historical accounts of certain areas in Sweden that some among the poor would make a simple beverage consisting of flour and water mixed with yeast, while those more well off would make beer using malt. An even simpler brew than kvass in other words, but existing within a culture of beer making, and with obvious influences from it. So the poor in Russia may similarly have had to settle for making their kvass out of bread and yeast only, resulting in the kind of beverage which it is commonly thought of as today.

 

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/886/80972/
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/886/85780/

 

It's actually really good, if done right. But it's not a beer. And in my opinion, doesn't belong on this site.

 

Just only one brewery in Lithuania produces a kvass in 0,5L bottle both kind of kvass - Regular and White Kvass (Белый квас).
May be I am wrong.

 

I always thought kvass was a lacto fermented beet based drink?

 

That's a different type/variety of kvass.

 

When working on my all-style goal, I needed a Kvass so went to a local Russian grocery. I spotted one, and when buying it got talking to the owner, explaining why I was buying it. He said that Russians don't consider Kvass a beer because it has such little alcohol that it's not considered an alcoholic beverage here or in Russia, and Russian kids drink it.

 

Exactly! Alcohol-free or maybe 0.5%, which is like a non-alcoholic beer. When trying to hunt some down, avoid plastic bottles and cans. Look for dark, glass bottles. You can also buy kvass extract, but I'm not sure how good it is. Sold at Russian/Slavic (Euro food) stores. Comes in a glass jar and it's as thick or thicker than molasses. If you go for something made by an American brewery (ex. Fonta Flora or Jester King) it's not kvass.

 

I checked with some friends and their conclusion was that since there's no abv on the bottle, it is likely that it is a grocery store "soda" offering.

 

They operate in California so doesn't that state require an abv if there is one?

They being European Importing Company.

 

Kombucha as well.

 

I'm late to the party & regardless of thoughts (sorry), this was hashed out long ago based on a question by my notable colleague @UCLABrewN84 who likewise felt that kvass may not be "beer". This question/battle has been fought & won by the Kvass Supporters. Kvasses should ABSOLUTELY be added & a request for assistance should not be met with debate.

For OP: If your request has been met, then I call upon @Todd to lock the thread, lest it devolve into an already-settled debate.

 

Don't buy kvas in a Russian store. I have not seen a good one yet. It tastes more like soda than kvas. You might need to go to Russia to get a real taste of kvas (I was there in August and kvas was excellent).

 

I wasn't about to spend thousands to go to Russia to check off a style.

I did drive six hours for one style (Gruit), but made a beer shopping trip of it too. So I was only willing to spend hundreds!

 

In Finland they make Sima for Vappu or last of april. This drink is typically made of a mixture of white and brown sugar brought to a boil with sliced lemons, the liquid is left to cool and then some bread yeast is added and left for 24 hours, then the liquid is strained into plastic bottles and some raisins are added, it is left in a cool cellar and once the raisins float to the top after a couple of days it is ready to drink, having attained some light carbonation. I found a reference to citronenkwas (lemon kvass) from 1888 in a German textbook, which also discusses regular kwass, which describes a very similar beverage:

"A second, not less beloved kind is the lemon kwas. Lemon slices (out of which the kernels are removed), raisins and syrup are brewed with water, after cooling down a mixture of yeast and wheat flour is added, and diluted with cold water. As soon as the lemons and raisins rise to the top and a cover is formed at the top, all is removed with a straining spoon and the kwas is drawn off into bottles, in which 1 to 2 raisins have been placed beforehand. The bottles are corked and brought onto ice and after 5 to 6 days the kwas is ready to drink".

Apart from adding the raisins to the boil, and adding wheat flour to the cooled liquid, it is pretty much identical to how Sima is made today in Finland. It seems likely that there has been some Russian influences to this drink, and it shows how kwas/kvass as a term could encompass a broad spectrum of beverages. I'm reminded here of the Swedish term dricka, which historically has been a term used for both low gravity malt beverages, simple sugar based fermented beverages (sockerdricka=sugar drink), juniper based fermented beverages (enbärsdricka=juniper drink) and even flour and yeast based beverages (mjöldricka=flour drink).

 

Did you ever manage to make a discovery about the appropriate listing for the "Standart" bottle? I unknowingly purchased a bottle of this and ran into the same dead-end you did trying to figure out a producer (brewer?) so I could add it...

 

Sister site, Untappd, recently added the Kvass RYEot badge!