摘要：The article discusses the state of the nobility’s distilling on the basis of the sources from the Russian state historical archive which have not been previously analyzed. In the paper there have been defined more exactly fundamental legal principles of distilling production. The article states that the obtained monopoly privilege to distil in the middle of the XVIII century provided the nobles with the opportunity of getting very large income. The author concludes that the alcohol reform of 1863 was a turning point in the development of the nobility’s distilling. The exclusive right of the nobility for this type of business has been lost, distilling standards have transformed the manufacture of distilled spirits into the high-tech industry. Few noble distilleries have survived the fierce competition; even with the help of government they could not meet the needs of growing Russian market. Understanding the influence of alcohol reform on the course of the nobility’s distilling we are able to extend the historical view of this business activity and are also able to conceive the reasons for the ‘impoverishment’ of the upper class in the second half of the XIX century.
