Kvass

Kvass is a traditionally low-alcohol, lightly effervescent fermented beverage of the Slavic world, made by fermenting rye bread or rye flour and malt in water. It is cloudy and dark with a sweet-sour, bread-forward taste comparable to a very weak beer, and regional recipes commonly add mint, raisins, honey or fruit. The earliest secure written attestation is the Russian Primary Chronicle, compiled around 1113 CE but describing Grand Prince Vladimir of Kiev distributing food, honey and kvass to celebrate the Christianization of Rus around 988 to 989 CE; food historians presume an earlier, undated folk origin among Slavic tribes. After Napoleon's defeat in 1812, Russian nobility reportedly served kvass instead of champagne at balls as a gesture of national pride, giving rise to the phrase kvass patriotism.