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“Ker Sari” is a special line of traditional Chuvash beer, which OJSC “Buket Chuvashia” brews for the harvest holiday. The intoxicating drink is considered national in the republic, but Ker Sari beer is a novelty of recent years, the production of which the company has been going for several decades.
In the mid-70s of the last century, the Cheboksary brewery started working on imported raw materials and produced the standard “Rizhskoye”, “Zhigulevskoye”, “Velvet”. Brewing beer according to recipes passed down from generation to generation became possible after the launch of our own production of barley and rye malt, the drilling of an artesian well 205 m deep, the commissioning of a water treatment department and a membrane system for filtering the hop product.
Today, the beer “Ker Sari”, awarded the gold medal of the international forum “Prodexpo-2018” as the “Best Product of the Year”, is an integral attribute of the holiday that the Chuvash people celebrate in the republic and abroad. Along with other brands of “Bouquet of Chuvashia”, which annually receive awards at prestigious exhibitions in Moscow, Sochi, Rostov-on-Don, the national drink is widely represented in the Nizhny Novgorod and metropolitan region.
Historical information
For the first time, “Ker Sari”, whose name literally translates as “autumn beer”, was brewed in the year of the fortieth anniversary of the enterprise. The plant was built according to a standard project and equipped with domestic equipment. In 1974, the production of beer in barrels began, a year later – in bottles. Only in 1996, with the launch of a tunnel pasteurizer, the production of a hoppy drink with a long shelf life was mastered.
Currently, the technological chain involves the equipment of the world’s leading manufacturers:
- wort boiler from Steineker (Germany);
- Danish CKD propagation equipment and Finnish yeast storage tanks;
- German press filter Pall Seitz Schenk with an hourly capacity of 300 hectoliters;
- carbon dioxide liquefaction station (Haffmans, the Netherlands);
- Dutch membrane filtration system Pentair;
- Italian bottling line for PET bottles.
Since 2007, the production of beer with a capacity of 0,5 liters in aluminum cans has been launched.
A thorough modernization contributed to the improvement of product quality and expanded the possibilities for the development and promotion of beer brewed according to traditional recipes. From 2014 to 2016 beer “Bouquet of Chuvashia” with a pronounced national flavor has consistently won gold awards at the international exhibition “Prodexpo”. In 2018, Ker Sari beer deserved the same high marks from the professional jury.
Traditions of “autumn beer”
“Ker Sari” is not only a brand of drink, but also the name of the holiday. The ritual of thanksgiving prayer to the gods and ancestors was traditionally performed on the new moon in late October – early November. The holiday organically fit into the church calendar of the baptized Chuvash and begins on Thursday evening a month after the Intercession. It is on this date that a new crop of beer is brewed, which serves as a ritual drink.
The holiday “Ker Sari” begins in the house of the elder of the family, who knows the traditions and the ritual text thoroughly. Prayer is performed with filled mugs. Together with words of thanks for the harvest, they ask the gods for strength to the people, peace to the world, sweet speech after tasting the bitterness of beer and a thousandfold multiplication of each sprouted grain next year.
A foamy drink must be drunk before the start of the meal. The tradition prescribes to present the guest with three mugs in a row, each of which is accompanied by an appeal to a separate deity.
Types of beer Ker sari
Ker sari light, 5,3%
Beer of a beautiful light straw color with snow-white dense foam. It has a pronounced malt and hop aroma. The taste is rich, with a noticeable grain component. The recipe includes light barley malt, hops and rice grits, which gives the beer an original and soft honey sweetness with a slightly refreshing hop bitterness in the aftertaste.
Ker sari dark, 4,3%
Beer brewed according to a traditional recipe from two varieties of malt – caramel and light. Forms a foam of a creamy shade, ruby in the light. It stands out for its pleasant aroma and velvety taste, which is dominated by caramel with a slight bitterness and barely noticeable notes of cream and chocolate.
