In an ethnic supermarket in LA I saw something
labeled "KVASS Malt Beverage"....

From what I know, Kvass is actually an alcohol
drink, made with fermented bread(!)...maybe it
might be ok, but I get the feeling that this
is something you would have had to have grown
up drinking to appreciate....

Any thoughts?

Yeah, My babci used to make it. Its made from Russian black bread. I used to drink it with my borsche when I was little. She made it with alcohol and without alcohol. She could also control if the yeast gave it carbonation or not. She would usually make it non-alcoholic(for me) and with carbonation.

In the Ukraine and Poland I am told that there is a carbonated drink that is flavoured with mountain grasses. Like lemon grass and stuff.

I personally am not into Kvas. But when I went to Russia 12 years ago with some students we found a Kvas tanker truck (looks like a big gasoline truck with a spout) and people could go up there and bring their bottles and fill them for a small charge. Someone had a plastic Evian bottle and they filled it for what cost in blackmarket-traded kopecks the equivalent of U.S. $0.01. Well, in my opinion, it cost what it was worth.

But hey in Iran they drink plain yogurt soda so to each his own!!!

there is also kvass made from fermented beets. Hey - it may not taste like champagne, but it is good for your health.

I thought it was made by nomads (as in Mongolia) out of fermented milk.

ron I bet you're thinking about kumyz (sp?) made from fermented horse milk. I tried a bottle of it in Kazakhstan once but I couldn't drink it. There was something called "kumran" also but made from camel milk.