New ladies' vodka gives Russian doctors a headache

"Of course, $12 per bottle is too expensive for a village woman," Volodin said, forecasting March sales of "Ladies" at 115,000 bottles and putting the 2008 full-year figure at over 2 million. "But we can't make bad vodka for women."

Volodin says his vodka is pure and free of by-products, like fusel oils, which can cause a heavy hangover. He says because of its mellow taste, it can be taken with salads and other light meals, even by those regularly working out in gyms.

Russia, buoyed by windfall revenues for oil, gas and metals exports, has enjoyed its biggest economic boom in a generation. Wages in the cash-laden economy have rocketed.

But high salaries and growing consumption of expensive alcohol have not led to moderation in drinking, said psychologist Sorokin.

The joblessness and despair of Russia's wild capitalism of the 1990s have now been replaced by the psychological vacuum of the newly-rich, he said.

Olga, a woman in her 20s, was buying a bottle of "Ladies" in an expensive supermarket in Moscow for a party with her friends.

"I saw the ad in the metro and decided to taste it," she said. "I just loved the design."

Sorokin said he expected an influx of new patients in about six months.

"When such strong marketing experts are involved, I will never be jobless," he sighed.

(Writing by Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Clar Ni Chonghaile)