Monday, October 22, 2007

Thank you all for your warm wishes.

Here's a quick question - and then I'm back to my blogging vacation:

Serving Corona beer with a straw stuck into the bottle next to the lemon - it's one of those devushka things, right?

***

Two competing worldviews:

"I can't imagine drinking beer through a drinking straw."

vs.

"I can't imagine drinking anything straight from the bottle."

10 comments:

  1. Man, I don't know about much about devushka things, but I'm thinking I should after following that link,..

    Beer on the other hand, is something I'm more familiar with. I twist the lemon or more usually lime into the Corona and drink it from the bottle.

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  2. Drinking beer with a straw is something I've only seen in Russia. I think the American take is that straws are for kids, and maybe you can drink a girly drink like a margarita with them, but definitely not a beer. That said, I like straws and it is fun to drink beer from a straw every now and then.

    I'm not sure this is connected to devushka fashion. It's probably more closely related to the not-entirely-unfounded paranoia about germs.

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  3. My Mexican friends assure me that the lemon in the bottle was developed by farm and building workers as a way of keeping the flies out of your beer during a long hot day at work. They also tell me that the whole "lemon-tequila-salt" (or maybe vice-versa) is to numb the taste buds as tequila is generally foul.

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  4. I think it's a totally backwards thing but not because of the straw--because of the lemon. It's not lemon that's supposed to go into the Corona bottle--it's lime. As far as I know the origin of the lime is in some LA bar where a bar tender set a bet on how long it would take for a new thing to catch up and go worldwide. He decided to put lime in a Corona bottle and made it look like that's the way Corona should be consumed. Amazingly, but it spread around the world quite fast and is now a great marketing tool. Now, that said, I guess, Veronichka, you can convince everyone that Corona should be consumed through a straw if lemon is used instead of lime. Let's see how fast this one goes around the world.
    Sasha

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  5. Drinking beer with a straw just doesn't taste right, same as putting ice in beer to keep it cold. A bottle may not be preferred but it is better than using a straw. Most people I've seen drinking beer on Khreshchatyk during the weekends I've been there were carrying beer bottles.

    I'll miss your insights on Ukraine if you stop blogging. Please don't stay away for long.

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  6. Maybe it's the same reason why coffees (latte's anyway) in Kiev are often served with a straw. I'm not sure what that reason is though. Maybe it prevents disturbing the lipstick. I'm a straight from the bottle person! (I've heard that same reasoning about the flies as Oscar).

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  7. Thanks for the shoutout Neeka, but I think this is a trick question.

    Would not a devushka be drinking a 75hr frou-frou Koktayl? Corona is a bit downscale for a real devushka, IMHO.

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  8. Beer through a straw?? Abomination!

    BTW the post on devushka fashion you linked is beyond hilarious! I have already forgotten how girls dress in Kiev! Although truth be told, they really stand out even here in Dubai. Only they share it with the Lebanese girls who could out-devushka any Uke!

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  9. Corona is most commonly served with a lime which is squeezed into the bottle no straw. Lemon is served with heffeweizen and is squeezed and put into the glass again no straw! Beer needs to breath and drinking through a straw doesn't allow for that.

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  10. Dear veronica. Perhaps the straw keeps the devushkas from drinking too quickly, and thus keeps their weight down? For example, I have seen girls at work functions sip the same beer all night, through a straw. They are very pretty and skinny. Meanwhile, I'll knock back half a dozen, which is a healthy contribution to my ever-prominent beer-belly. Very un-devushka of me.

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