After the Foam Settles: A History of Moscow Taverns

An candid book with humor and a touch of nostalgia about male friendship, urban tall tales, missing routes, and that Moscow where a beer hall wasn’t just a venue, but a way of living.

Here, beer halls are not just scenery—they are active characters:

– the legendary “Yama,” where philosophers, hippies, and the artistic bohemia would gather;

– “Zhiguli,” which went through neglect, a second birth, and visits from top officials;

– “Saigon,” a place overgrown with currency myths and underground fame;

– the beer halls of Gorky Park and VDNKh, where foam, lines, and conversation meant more than the selection.

You’ll learn:

– why beer halls were nicknamed “the second editions” of newspapers;

– where questions were settled by people from the MFA and counterintelligence;

– how, in the years of shortages, you could drink beer from cans, bags, and buckets;

– which beer halls inspired writers—and how they themselves became part of literature;

– why a beer hall sometimes proved more honest than any club.

For those who love Moscow, its legends, the city’s living memory, and real reportage prose.