New Kalashnikov Unveiled

[yellowwing]

LONDON (Reuters) (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=573&ncid=757&e=9&u=/nm/20040920/od_nm/britain_kalashnikov_dc) Mon Sep 20,11:25 AM ET

The creator of one of the world's most famous guns, the AK-47 assault rifle, launched another weapon in Britain Monday -- Kalashnikov vodka.

Lieutenant General Mikhail Kalashnikov, who invented the AK-47 after being shot by German soldiers during World War II, said he wanted to continue "the good name" of his gun.

"I've always wanted to improve and expand on the good name of my weapon by doing good things," he told Reuters Television.

"So we decided to create a vodka under my name. And we wanted that vodka to be better than anything made, up until now, in both Russia and England."

The Kalashnikov rifle has become the weapon of choice for guerrillas and gangsters across the world. But Kalashnikov said his original intentions for the gun were purely patriotic.

"I did not create the gun for international conflicts, I created it to protect the borders of my country," he said.

"It is not my fault that it has been spread all over the world. It is its reliability and its simplicity that have taken it all over the world."

Promoters of Kalashnikov vodka say it is "made from grain harvested in Russia and water drawn from Lake Ladoga north of St Petersburg" and is best drunk with friends.

http://www.ywg-web.com/images/kalashnikov-vodka.jpg

What's next, Kalashnikov cigarettes? The Kalashnikov Kasino?

[Sparrowhawk]

http://www.iol.co.za/data/picdb/7/a/newspic415015a4346ae

One thing about the new Kalashnikov vodka is that unlike the original Ak47, you need two shots of Kalashnikov vodka befiore you feel the effects.

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At 82 percent proof, the drink may prove as powerful as the AK-47 assault rifle that Lieutenant General Mikhail Kalashnikov conceived during World War 2 when Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union.

"I've always wanted to improve and expand on the good name of my weapon by doing good things," said Kalashnikov, now 82.

"We wanted that vodka to be better than anything made, up until now, in both Russia and England," he said.

Kalashnikov Vodka is the brainchild of British entrepreneur John Florey, who formerly represented Russian chess grandmaster Gary Kasparov.

Its promoters say it is "made from grain harvested in Russia and water drawn from Lake Ladoga, north of Saint Petersburg," and is best consumed in the company of friends.

Kalashnikov, in London for the vodka's launch Monday at a swanky West End club, said he was personally involved in every facet of the product's development, down to its label.

"This vodka is the result of a meeting between people - those who decided to make it and I, who chose to lend my name," the general told the Guardian newspaper.

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=29&art_id=qw1095766741742A141