Yandex searched for “hot spots” with us on a corporate excursion

The event agency “Good Mays” approached us with the aim of organizing a corporate excursion for 60 people around Moscow. We settled on “Hot Spots” with tastings of alcoholic beverages in atmospheric establishments of Kitay-gorod lasting 2.5 hours. It turned out that the customer was the company “Yandex”.

We proposed dividing the team into 3 groups and starting at hourly intervals. We decided on three establishments on the route and drinks. The day before, Anton and Alexey made a special trip once again to the three “eating” establishments they planned to visit. We settled on the choice of liqueurs and cocktails and established contact with the bartenders so that everything went smoothly.

The next day, about half an hour before their excursion, each of the three guides came to the place, communicated with the coordinators from the customer and set off with the group. By the way, it turned out that Yandex recently had an excursion with a descent into the Neglinnaya River, which, of course, was interesting. Many participants (from different departments, mostly unfamiliar with each other) signed up as excursionists almost the day before or even on the same day. The turnout was almost one hundred percent (out of 60 people announced there were approximately 55).

The guide of the first group, Alexey, advised us to hold on to the snacks from the organizers “for a little longer,” just for that part of the route when the guys reach our atmospheric bars. According to Yandex.Weather, we were convinced that there was no rain on the way, but raincoats, just in case, were provided by the organizers.

We went for a walk to the historical accompaniment of a guide about the gastronomy of Moscow and its drinking culture. 

The first establishment to be visited opened just a couple of days before the excursion, so the participants were among the first to taste its joys. It is truly a “den of vice”, albeit a chain. Including in the ambience and the contingent: stern men “persuade” with shots at a bargain price. Without any pretensions to chic or original interiors. An old Moscow story - “nastoeshnaya” with an “sha”, like “buloshnaya”. Here the guide told the guests about the format of Soviet pubs, that is, about such people's democratic places of our recent past, where the proletarians could have a decent “refreshment” after a hard, difficult day at work and taste one or two shots. The guests sat down and drank the set - some had one, and some got two shots. We prudently ordered neutral berry liqueurs, because the strong and peppery ones might ask to be taken back later. Without staying long, we went to places with nicer interiors. 

If at first, being strangers to each other, the IT specialists were a little shy, then the drink, as they say, knows its business. 

The next alcohol point in Moscow was stylized as chemistry and biology classrooms. There is a separate group of creators of such pubs. They try to do everything in an unconventional and original way. A slight ruined look is present: for example, it seems to you that the ceiling is crumbling, or butterflies are stuck in the lamps. You can spend a long time looking at the details of this place for an alcoholic student party, popular with young people. On Friday evening there were enough people, but due to our prior agreement with the bartender, he quickly poured us drinks and passed them on. Some went outside, some found a secluded corner. We drank one additional blackcurrant liqueur, whoever wanted, while the guide told us, took a photo and went on through Gorka.

It is worth saying that the guide gives a historical and cultural story, both in establishments and between them, on a drinking and gastronomic theme, interspersing the story with the places being surveyed. Let's say Stanislav and the participants walk around the block, next to Myasnitskaya Street, Maroseyka Street (the main shopping street), Solyansky Proezd, and mentions that in Moscow the genetic code of the capital has really been resurrected in a peculiar way, that is, that many of the hot spots from the pre-revolutionary era of the end XIX and early XX centuries recovered. Also, years and decades later, Soviet public catering was partially resurrected. And so, from the late nineties and the beginning of the 2000s, and in our time, in some cases they even appeared in almost the same places. In the area of these streets, within the Gorka Park, near the synagogue, fist fights took place, even essentially life-and-death clashes between Jewish and Russian youth, which became the formal beginning of the persecution of Jews. By the way, not long ago in “Gorki” young people organized drunken sabantuis, but today the place has found peace and tranquility, becoming an oasis of silence in the Kitay-Gorod area, even late on Friday or Saturday evenings, while in other parts of this area it can be very noisy. 

The guide tells the story, and the tourists look at the objects of the story with their own eyes.

By the way, in Anton’s group there was an unforeseen stopping point at another wine bar, where one of our experienced participants decided to treat the people at his own expense with a tincture and a snack... on a fried cricket. A rare thing, only served here. Interesting experience, memorable.

At the last establishment they were already waiting for us. These are former salt cellars, which is what impresses the people the most. Here, as befits the caves of a saltworks, it is traditionally hot, almost like in a bathhouse - people began to undress, to bare themselves... Just in time, at that moment they served us a cool tropical "Daiquiri" with a strawberry-pineapple aroma in Brazilian style. The cocktail and the secret room really helped the final impression - it is always the most important, and, let's say, everyone was full of delight.

Yandex IT specialists liked the two-and-a-half-hour drinking and history walk; many said that “we have never seen a Moscow like this.” Particularly pleased citizens (there were quite a few of them) generally stated that this was the best excursion they had ever been on... We consider it an honor! At the end, the guide Alexey even hugged some of them, and the guides Stas and Anton moved on.

Do you need a corporate alcoholic bar tour or a traditional historical one? Please write and call.