Russian law treats beer as food.
Wow! the Russian beer lobby has crafted laws that treat beer the same as any food. It can be sold in all the same places and restricted only by the laws that restrict other foods.
No license is required to brew beer in Russia!
The politicians there have little or no incentive to change things, either:
“It’s billions and billions of dollars a year,” said Belyakov, a member of the minority Fair Russia party. “I want to repeat: A significant part of that financial flow goes into the building where I work.”