Moscow Times - 11.14.2002

The Moscow Times

Baltika Has a Kosher Plan on Tap

By Alex Nicholson, Staff Writer

Baltika fans in the Holy Land could soon be quaffing kashrut-compliant beer as Russia's No. 1 brewer prepares to go kosher.

Rabbi Berl Lazar, one of Russia's two chief rabbis, was given a personal, two-hour tour of Baltika's sprawling St. Petersburg plant by company president Taimuraz Bolloyev two weeks ago, and they discussed the certification of Baltika's many labels. 

Lazar, who says there is growing interest in kosher certification among domestic producers, was full of praise for Bolloyev. 

"Though he himself is not Jewish, he has had a very close relationship with the Jewish community, and he took us in like best friends," Lazar said in a telephone interview Wednesday.

"He believes very strongly that the kosher certificate will upgrade production as well as the beer itself and the image of the company," he said. 

Baltika spokesman Alexei Kedrin said an existing beer or beers would be certified and it would be aimed at foreign markets. Unsurprisingly, the main market for kosher beer would be Israel, which with 15 percent of exports is Baltika's second-largest export market after Latvia, Kedrin said. 

"Israel is home to over a million Russian-speaking Israeli citizens who believe very much in their own beer," Lazar said.

With Baltika's exports expected to grow to 10 percent of total output this year, the Israeli market will be worth about $11 million, according to Renaissance Capital beverages analyst Natalya Zagvozdina.

Rabbi Isroyal Zelman, a former head of the kashrut department at the main Moscow synagogue, said kosher certification makes sense for Israel's sometimes ultra-sensitive market. "People in the Holy Land are often very careful about choosing only kosher foods," he said. "Some will only eat products after their dear spouse has checked it 20 times."

Part hygiene, part call to holiness, the kashrut are dietary laws that determine exactly what can and cannot be consumed, as well as how food should be prepared. 

Not that beer, or indeed vodka, offers many opportunities for violations of the kashrut laws. The basic ingredients for both are kosher, and only certain exotic brews with additives and flavorings raise kashrut issues.

"Lots of religious Jews drink beer and vodka knowing that they are more or less kosher regardless of who makes them," said Alik Kalmyk, deputy head of the Russia-Israel Chamber of Commerce in Moscow. 

"Kosher certification is always a plus with the consumers, however," he said.

Only 5 percent to 7 percent of Jews in Russia keep kosher, partly because of a lack of kosher produce, said Rabbi Lazar. "Kosher production in Russia is something new. It only really began in the past year to year and a half." 

Lazar has been pushing for kosher goods in Russia and helped set up a company called Kosher Russia earlier this year to offer certificates. Kosher Russia is currently processing about 50 applications from local companies.

So far, applicants pay only for the hourly rate of the rabbis and kashrut experts involved. 

"It won't be making any profits for a few years, and we may just keep it as a service to Russian companies," Lazar said. "But if there is a strong interest, this could become a source of income for the Jewish community." 

The certification process that Baltika will have to follow is as such: A rabbi will check the plant and ingredients used in production and offer recommendations on what needs to be done to make the products kosher. Once the plant complies with the suggestions, it gets certified.

From then on a Mashgiach -- a person trained in kashrut laws -- is usually present whenever kosher production is rolling. "Only he can open the factory," Lazar said. 

Baltika has not set a date for shipping its first kosher beer.

Some countries have been offering kosher beer for years. In the United States, the maker of Budweiser, Anheuser-Busch Co., got more than 40 of its products certified in 1998. Coors was one of the first U.S. beers to go kosher in the early 1990s, and it says sales have jumped.

Some smaller beer makers have always been kosher, such as the California-based Shmaltz. The brewery offers a line called Hebrew -- The Chosen Beer with brands such as Genesis Ale and Messiah Stout. Messiah Stout is marketed as "The beer you've been waiting for."

Russian companies have been slowly catching up. The Moscow-based Udarnitsa confectionery plant went kosher three years ago. Udarnitsa baked a kosher cake weighing 100 kilograms for the 65th birthday bash of Russia's other chief rabbi, Adolf Shayevich, on Tuesday night.

Kosher restaurants, however, remain few and far between. One of the only restaurants, Na Monmartre, recently was forced to close its doors when the French Galleries shopping center, where it was renting space, went defunct. 

Another restaurant, Karmel on Tverskaya-Yamskaya Ulitsa, is closed for renovation. But even if it was open, it wouldn't meet the needs of at least one kosher diner. "Karmel is our sorrow," Rabbi Zelman, said with a deep sigh. "They take money on the Sabbath."