Wostok

Berlin soda maker Wostok started in 2009 in Kreuzberg, remaking Baikal, a Soviet soft drink, and its sodas lean on herbs, spices and other botanicals.

About Wostok

Based in
Berlin, Germany
Founded
2009
Known for
craft sodas based on Soviet-era recipes

Joris van Velzen, a Dutch photographer, went to Moscow in 1989 to work as a press photographer and lived there until 2008. Baikal was his favorite soda. After moving his family to Berlin he set out to remake it, and Wostok (Russian for "east") reached Berlin bars and clubs in 2009 with a Soviet-retro label. The drink came out of Kreuzberg.

Its sodas draw on herbs, spices and other botanicals.

Herbal sodas are drunk cold on their own or mixed with gin, vodka or mezcal.

Wostok questions

What is Wostok soda based on?

Wostok is modeled on Baikal, a dark, sweet-spicy herbal soda the Soviet Union launched in 1969 as its own answer to Coca-Cola. Instead of a cola recipe, Baikal used black tea, lemon, cardamom, eucalyptus and Siberian ginseng root. Wostok carries that idea of a soda flavored with tea, herbs and spices across its range.

What is Tarkhuna?

Tarkhuna is a green soda flavored with tarragon, a leafy herb whose taste recalls anise. Mitrofan Lagidze created it in 1887 in Kutaisi, in Georgia, the country in the Caucasus, and it is still popular there, in Armenia and in Russia. Along with Baikal, it is one of the drinks from that part of the world whose style Wostok draws on.

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