Before we had the chance to try and explain what we thought was inside the bottle, our beautiful blonde buddy had already popped the top, sucked some of the contents down, and exclaimed, "Oooh! What an interesting flavor! What kind of soda is this?"
The truth was, we had no idea what it was. That's why we picked it up.
She was one of the lucky ones, however. The last time someone grabbed something out of our fridge and slurped without asking for information he got a mouthful of camel juice. (Not a pretty experience for all parties involved.) Instead of being white, semi-savory, and thick, however, this time the bottle's contents were brown, sweet, and bubbly.
But what really drew us to Kwas Chlebowy was the fact that, though it was indeed a beverage, its label had an image of a loaf of bread on it. Hmm. Was this bread-flavored soda though the photo wasn't of soda bread? Aside from the nutritional information, the only English words on the packaging were "Original Ukrainian Product," "Produced by Obolon," "Drink" and "Liter." Not much to go on there.
Googling away, we discovered that the drink is actually Kvass or Kvas, not Kwas, and the photo of the bread alluded to the scent and preparation of the beverage. Curious, we know. It is made by fermenting bread with sugar or fruit and yeast. Here are instructions for how to make some in case you are so inclined.
It's actually considered a low-alcohol beer, not a soda, and it dates back thousands of years to Eastern Slavic tribes and even to ancient Egypt circa the 6th millennium B.C. Look at us gettin' all historic up in here. Plus it can be used in soups and seafood boils so there's no need to throw our $1.99 bottle away.
As for the taste... well, it's rather yummy to be honest. Our blondie friend couldn't stop drinking it, despite having no idea what it was at the time.
Who should drink this? People who don't have adverse reactions to bread-flavored beverages and teenagers who want to get their beer on without getting ID-ed.
