To Russia With Beer

Move over Mikhail, Fred Powers plans to introduce a new form of glassnost (as in hoist another glass ) to the thirsty Soviets.

Powers, owner of Gorky’s Cafe and Russian Brewery, has decided that locations in Los Angeles and Hollywood are not enough and is in the process of bringing suds to the steppes by opening microbreweries in Leningrad, Yalta and Moscow.

Gorky’s microbreweries here make four brands of brew under the label Gorky’s Russian Beer: Russian Imperial Stout, Baltic Light, Red Star Ale and Golden Pilsner. With a little too much openness, Powers contends that his libations are far superior to the beers currently brewed in the Soviet Union.

The Soviets’ main beer is a kind of light lager, akin to, say, Coors. The Soviets, Powers says, are “working with antiquated equipment that’s not really capable of making a quality beer. . . . Generally speaking, it’s recognized that all of the beer is basically poor quality.�

Preliminary agreements are in hand for the Yalta and Leningrad sites, Powers said, and he’s working on Moscow. If all goes as planned, the breweries should each take a year to build and open.

Checchi Gets Chummy

Northwest Airlines’ new owner and chairman, Alfred A. Checchi, is a hit in the posh southwest Minneapolis lakeside community where he and his family recently moved. Two weekends ago, he approached passing neighbors, introduced himself and asked whether they had children who might be playmates for his little girl, the Star Tribune of Minneapolis reported. The paper added that Checchi got the neighbors’ “real normal guy� seal of approval.

Residents are hoping that Checchi will be able to do something about the noise of planes passing over their million-dollar homes. His Mediterranean-style house is in a flight path for Northwest and other planes.

Meanwhile, Checchi, who is also keeping his Beverly Hills residence, has already found himself the subject of Minneapolis’ “unwelcome wagon.� Burglars reportedly broke into his and other houses in the neighborhood last week. As the Star Tribune reported, neighbors suspect that “pesky TV crews shooting airplane traffic� got the attention of news-watching burglars.