God Bless Ukrainian Beer!
I write this at the end of a typically challenging week in work while enjoying a can of Chernigivske. The signature beer of Ukraine. So worth reflecting on where it comes from. With apologies this is a short blog this month and with no jokes - not that kind of subject matter.
You may have heard various Putin mouthpieces opine that Ukraine is basically Russia. In fact, Ukraine pre-dates Muscovite Russia by some way. As always I am indebted to a serious historian now, in this case Tom Holland (not Spiderman but the other Tom Holland) who wrote the wonderful book “Millennium” about the 10th and 11th centuries in Europe. Chernihiv and Kyiv were the two great cities of “Kiev Rus”. Chernihiv gets a mention in the Rus-Byzantine Treaty of 907, but is believed to have existed before then. (Moscow was founded about 250 years later). The area was at various times ruled by Lithuania and part of an autonomous Cossack territory, before it got swallowed up by Moscow during the reign of Peter the Great.
The city of Chernihiv has been brewing beer since 1988 (which may not sound much compared with the 1366 boasted by Stella Artois, but still…). More recently, Chernihv was on the front line. On 25 February, the Russian army encircled it and began a siege, complete with bombardment. It resisted, with casualties on both sides. Eventually the Ukrainian army lifted the siege on 31 March. There followed the Russia re-evaluation of their tactics, complete with their nonchalant “we never wanted to capture the whole country anyway and in fact we have already won” narrative. They withdrew and the threat to the city was ended.
Like many lagers, Chernigivske is very pleasant when drunk cold in the right context. The connoisseurs of the website Beer Advocate have been abandoning their usual reserve to go way over the top and dub it “not so bad” and “quite nice”. I would agree.
But, basically, right now, buy some. And credit where it is due to the AB Inbev Behemoth Monster Corporation, who have been brewing it in the UK and are donating the profits to Ukrainian humanitarian relief. A good thing.