But then his eyes focus on a familiar label on the top shelf. In a Philly neighborhood where thousands of Russian, Slovak, Polish and other Eastern European immigrants have settled, the import rack at the Sixpack Store in the Great Northeast is a little taste of their old home. But over the years, those families have moved out and they're being replaced with people from Russia, the Ukraine, Poland, Slovakia. . Until the breakup of the Soviet Union, beer was regarded as little more than a chaser. Almost anywhere else in America, you'd have a tough time finding any of these beers.
Retailers are reluctant to carry new imports with no name recognition.
But in big cities like Philly, where heavy populations of immigrants are looking for familiar tastes from the old country, many of the brews are showing up in area coolers. Importing distributor Edward I. Friedland Co., for example, began stocking Obolon from Kiev when retailers in the Northeast pressured him for something from Ukraine. Near Allentown, Shangy's does a brisk business with an old-style lager called Golden Pheasant from Slovakia. They grew up with it, and they love it. These imported specialties have a rich history in Philadelphia.