What is the Museum of Russian Vodka in Uglich, and what can I expect to see?

The Museum of Russian Vodka is a unique museum dedicated to the history and culture of vodka in Russia. You can expect to see a vast collection of exhibits, including ancient artifacts, interactive displays, and a gift shop with vodka-related items.

Is the Museum of Russian Vodka suitable for families with children?

Yes, the museum is suitable for families with children, as it has interactive displays and a gift shop with fun vodka-related items.

Can I buy vodka at the Museum of Russian Vodka?

Yes, you can buy vodka at the museum's gift shop, which has a great selection of bottles, glasses, and books.

Is the Museum of Russian Vodka wheelchair accessible?

Yes, the museum is wheelchair accessible, with ramps and elevators connecting the different levels.

Can I take photos at the Museum of Russian Vodka?

Yes, you can take photos at the museum, but please be respectful of the exhibits and other visitors.

Is the Museum of Russian Vodka open year-round?

Yes, the museum is open year-round, but the hours of operation may be limited during the winter months.

Can I get a refund if I'm not satisfied with my visit to the Museum of Russian Vodka?

Yes, you can get a refund if you're not satisfied with your visit, but please check the museum's return policy before purchasing tickets.

Are there any special events or exhibitions at the Museum of Russian Vodka?

Yes, the museum hosts special events and exhibitions throughout the year, so be sure to check the website or call ahead to plan your visit.

Can I rent a guide or audio guide at the Museum of Russian Vodka?

Yes, you can rent a guide or audio guide at the museum, which will provide you with more in-depth information about the exhibits and the history of vodka.

Museum of Russian Vodka in Uglich | Vodka History and Culture

A treasure trove of vodka history and culture

Hello to everyone who's interested in my review and took the time to read my thoughts!

I had planned to visit this museum back in 2024, during my first trip to Uglich, but my wife and son refused to go, like it was some kind of pro-alcohol propaganda exhibit, given all the vodka bottles on display. I tried to argue that any historical museum with firearms on display isn't promoting war and violence, but that didn't work, so I ended up putting off my visit to the Museum of Russian Vodka until the next year.

Finally, in 2025, I got to visit this museum, although not without some hassle. We stopped by in the middle of our stay in Uglich, but were told that the museum, which is located on the basement level of the building, had been flooded due to a heavy downpour and was temporarily closed. We had to put our visit on hold, but on the penultimate day of our stay, which coincidentally fell on my birthday, my wife and I were finally able to visit the Museum of Russian Vodka.

You can buy tickets and some of the exhibits at the museum's ticket office. After my visit, I bought two bottles as a gift for my colleagues at work.

The self-guided tour ticket cost 300 rubles, which included a tasting of your choice of either vodka or a slivovitz infusion at the end of the museum visit. At the start of our exhibit tour, an imposing gentleman told us about Pyotr Arsenyevich Smirnov, the famous entrepreneur and supplier to the Imperial Court from Yaroslavl Governorate. He shared the story of his family and products from the late 19th century.

The first room on the left features antique wine and vodka vessels, including bottles, decanters, half-decanters, carafes, and other unique containers. You can also see wine and vodka labels, as well as various glasses, cups, beer mugs, and wine glasses.

The furniture, complete with ancient bottles, jars, vases, stacks, and other vintage tableware, really transports you back in time. The glass, metal, and ceramics have held up incredibly well, but the paper labels have fared much worse – on some of the bottles, they're almost completely gone or just fragments.

There's a beautiful, intricately designed glass vase that caught my eye – it's got a transparent glass body and a gorgeous pink rooster inside. The craftsmanship that went into creating this piece is truly impressive. Next to it, there's a replica of the 'For Bravery in Drunkenness' medal, which was established by Peter the Great. This thing weighs almost seven kilograms – it's a wonder anyone could carry it around while drunk, let alone back in the day when people were known to be much more... enthusiastic about their drinking.

I was browsing the display case with the Petrovskaya medal and a decanter with a rooster inside, surrounded by old bottles, when I spotted a siphon in a metal casing - it looked just like the one my great-uncle, my mom's older brother, used to have. My cousin had saved this vintage, but she hadn't used it in ages. I remember the homemade soda from this siphon tasted better than store-bought because the syrups came in different flavors and colors, and you could add them to taste.

In one of the cabinets filled with old bottles, I found some really beautiful pieces - they're like glass sculptures of animals, women, and even a bottle shaped like a man in a costume with a butterfly.

I was browsing through the museum's collection of vintage bottles, and I stumbled upon a siphon from the second half of the 20th century, which was right at home among the antique glassware. But what really caught my eye was a bottle that looked like it was from the 'Extra' vodka brand back in the day - it was priced at 4 rubles and 12 kopecks, and the label was still intact, which was a big deal considering the condition of the old imperial-era bottles. A bit further down, I saw a hand-painted bottle-chicken from the second half of the 1970s, which was a common sight back in the day when they used to sell juice, soda, and even beer in those bottles. And if I'm not mistaken, in the late 1980s, they even sold vodka in those bottles during the Soviet era.

In one of the display cases, I saw a few examples of the work of the famous sculptor Muhina, who's also the creator of the iconic granite vase.

Alongside the vintage bottles with quirky shapes, the museum also had some more modern examples of unusual bottles. Next to one of the display cases, I saw a pair of vodka bottles shaped like rifles - I'm pretty sure they were designed for hunting small game, given their size and capacity.

I was surprised to see that the museum has more to offer than just exhibits related to the drink itself or its production and consumption. There are cultural compositions, still-life paintings featuring the Russian national drink, and scenes from everyday life that somehow feature vodka or its consumers or sellers. For example, in the painting 'The Merchant Counting Money', you can see vodka bottles in the background.

The main exhibits of the museum are samples of Russian vodka production, and they're presented in a territorial way, although there are some exceptions. Sometimes, products from different regions are displayed alongside those from major manufacturers or well-known brands. In the first hall, you can see products from Yaroslavl, Vladimir, Kostroma, Kaliningrad, Voronezh, Novgorod the Great, and Nizhny Novgorod, right next to products from Chernogolovka and Shuya, which used to be part of the Vladimir Governorate.

I've seen some pretty interesting displays near the local products, with foreign brands right next to them. My wife actually walked past one of those displays with her eyes closed, she's not a fan of snakes, even if they're just in a bottle of booze. Those snake-in-a-bottle bottles look like they belong in a museum, like the Kunstkamera. I guess they'd make a pretty cool gift for someone who's into exotic drinks.

Some of the displays have similar designs, but from different manufacturers. Like those bottles in the top left corner with labels that look like car license plates from different regions of Russia.

I've seen some of these products on store shelves, but I've never actually bought any of them. Still, I remember some of the names, like 'Telyachka' vodka, 'Altai' or 'Zhuravli'.

I walked through a museum exhibit and saw a display case with bottles labeled with medical-themed stickers. Some of the labels read 'Vaccine', 'Mixture', and 'Home Doctor', while one bottle had a label written in an old alphabet that simply and clearly said 'Poison'.

Next to this eccentric bottle with its short and straightforward name, I spotted an old friend - a Moai idol-shaped bottle of Chilean Pisco Capel Moai Reservado. This high-quality spirit is made from grapes grown in the Pisco Valley, which was once part of Peru but is now in Chile. A friend gave it to me about 15 years ago.

When I walked through this display, I ran into two familiar vodka brands. One of them was 'Tundra' vodka - I don't have the best memories of it, but it's not because of the taste. I bought this vodka for my mom's wake three years ago, and I still have one bottle left from the ones I bought. The other familiar vodka was 'Beluga', which I bought about 15 years ago, but I still haven't opened it. To be honest, it's not the oldest drink in my collection - I have some older ones.

I also saw a few types of vodka that were bottled into metal cans instead of glass bottles. I'm not sure if the quality would be any different, but I've never been tempted to buy vodka in cans.

On the round stand with the 'L.V.Z. Yaroslavsky' label, I noticed a bottle of 'Flagman' vodka, which reminded me of another item in my collection - the 'Flagman Port-Arthur' pine infusion that I bought over 20 years ago. Unfortunately, the same infusion is not on display at the museum.

I have to admit, I didn't find any bottles of Medved vodka from Tula, which I've been buying for over 20 years, as a birthday gift for my dad. I also didn't find any Kolchuga vodka from the Tula region, which I bought a bit later than Medved. These two are probably the only representatives from Tula that I've ever had the chance to try.

On the left side, you'll see some products from the Topaz factory. I've been to a few events where they showcased their products, but I've never actually bought any.

However, on the shelf with Moscow, Moscow Oblast, Saint Petersburg, and Dovgany products, I found a few familiar faces that I've bought over the years. Some of these old friends are still waiting for their turn, while others were consumed shortly after purchase.

I'll never forget buying this Slavyanska Number 3 vodka on New Year's Eve in 1997. It was the last time I saw my parents and relatives gathered around the table, and the blue label on this bottle brought back a flood of memories.

Another vodka that still has a special place in my heart is the Crystallovskaia 'Yuriy Dolgorukiy'. I bought it in 1997, the same year Moscow was celebrating its 850th anniversary. The matte glass bottle was really eye-catching, but I've yet to open it. In the early 2000s, I also came across the Arbatskaia Elitnaia vodka, which was actually produced by MMVZ, not the Khrystal factory. The bottle from the Ochakovo district looked similar to the one from the Lefortovo district, with a transparent window in the middle. I bought it for New Year's in 2003, but it wasn't on display at the museum.

On the shelf below the vodka 'Yuri Dolgorukiy', there's another vodka from the same factory, Crystal, called 'Staryi Moskva' with a black label featuring the white-stone Uspensky Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin. I bought this vodka on my dad's birthday back in the late 90s. Before that, I picked up a CD with Igor Kartashov's album, also called 'Staryi Moskva', and looking at this museum exhibit, I remembered the lyrics from the song on that album - 'Staryi Moskva, listen to me, drown my sorrow in the leaves of the parks...'.

Next to the 'Staryi Moskva' bottle is a bottle of 'Komdiv' vodka. I used to see it in stores, but I never bought it.

However, on the shelf with St. Petersburg vodkas, there were two bottles next to each other. One of them, 'Russkii Razmer', I bought for my dad's 60th birthday, while the 'Tsarskaya Zolotaya' I bought for my wedding and our 35th wedding anniversary. Those drinks left me with the most pleasant memories.

A bit lower down is a bottle of 'Russkii Standart' vodka. I bought that on some occasion, but unfortunately, it didn't taste as good as it looked.

I've got a bottle of Livizovskaya vodka 'Gzhelka' from St. Petersburg sitting at home, which I bought around 25 years ago. I might just give it to a museum if I ever get back in there.

Out of all the 800 or so exhibits in the museum, I've only come across a handful in person, including a few vodka bottles that I've bought. But the museum has some drinks that I'd love to try if I could find them in stores.

I'd definitely buy 'TyaPnitsa' vodka for my collection - it's got a really cool name, even if I'm not a fan of turning Friday nights into a wild party. I don't drink hard liquor often.

The 'Za Pobedu' vodka from LVZ Veresk in Tver Oblast is really eye-catching - it comes in a shell casing bottle. According to the label, it was released in 2000 to commemorate the 55th anniversary of the Victory.

Besides this winning vodka, the manufacturer also had a few bottles of Uglich on display, made in the neighboring region of Kashin, located upstream of the Volga River. I would've loved to buy one of those bottles as a souvenir, but the museum worker told me that there's only one distillery and unfortunately, those Uglich bottles aren't available for sale.

The Uzhum distillery's products also caught my eye, such as the bitter liqueur 'Kedrovka' and the sweet liqueur 'Cheremukha with Coniac'. I would've bought those too, but I didn't know about this distillery from Uzhum before visiting the museum and their products aren't widely available in stores.

I was stoked to see a display case with old-school equipment used to make and bottle vodka back in the day. You've got everything from a copper still that's eerily similar to the one from the movie Samogon to one of the first automated bottling lines for wine and vodka.

The display case isn't as big as the ones with more modern products, but I still found some familiar faces – mostly from the good ol' days of 'talonnyi izobilie', when you'd get a voucher for pretty much anything and have to run around to redeem it. I remember trading vodka for a spare copper coil with the gas fitter after I fixed his heater. Fast forward a decade, and I used that same spare coil to fix the heater again.

Soviet-era bottles come with those aluminum caps that are essentially one-time use. You'd seal the bottle, and it was implied that you'd drink the whole thing right away – no putting the cap back on. Nowadays, we've got screw caps or corks that can be reused. Back then, you'd have to finish the bottle whether you wanted to or not.

I've got a bottle of Riga Balsam on the second shelf of this display case. I've got one of these balsams in my collection, which I bought back in 1994. The bottle's ceramic, and the cork is sealed with wax. It's one of the oldest drinks in my collection. I picked up the Ussuri Balsams a year later.

The museum also has a small display case dedicated to these alcohol substitutes. I've never had the chance to try them, but 'Royal' spirit was pretty common in the early nineties. Apparently, some people used perfume as a substitute for booze back in the day. One of the bottles even has a little demon figurine attached to it, along with a drunkard figurine with a red nose.

Check out these old price tags for vodka at the museum, showing how prices changed over time - before the big hike in 1981 and after the subsequent price increases aimed at reducing drunkenness and alcoholism. Contrary to Soviet myths that nothing ever got more expensive, prices did rise steadily. In the 1968 comedy film 'Zigzag of Success', the character Burkov calculates how many bottles of vodka you could buy for 10,000 rubles at a price of 2 rubles and 87 kopecks per bottle. Fast forward to the 1972 comedy film 'Ivan Vasilyevich Changes His Profession', where the character Zhorg Miloslavsky mentions the price of a vodka bottle in a phone call, using the digits '362' as an extra phone number.

At first glance, these prices might seem small, but the cost of vodka during the developed socialism era was actually very high compared to average salaries. In 1981, you could buy just 29 bottles of 'Pshenichnaya' vodka on a median salary of 180 rubles, with prices ranging from 6 to 20 rubles per bottle. Today, you could buy the same amount of vodka at 450 rubles per bottle for a whopping 13,000 rubles - that's seven times cheaper than back then!

I picked up a couple of bottles, and I'm really glad I did. The Museum of Russian Vodka is a must-visit for anyone interested in the history and culture of Russia's national drink. It's a treasure trove of exhibits, displays, and artifacts that showcase the evolution of vodka production and consumption over the centuries. Whether you're a history buff, a vodka enthusiast, or simply someone who appreciates the finer things in life, this museum is sure to leave you with a newfound appreciation for the complexities and nuances of Russian vodka culture.