In the Russian army, a meal included one drink. The glasses were poured chock-full to avoid differences in measuring. Mannerheim adopted the same principle; the glass had to be full and nothing should be dropped when drinking it. This tradition is still connected with the Marshal’s drink.

When Mannerheim was asked about the background of the tradition of the chock-full glass, he said it went back to the custom in the Russian army, their Cavalry School and the Chevalier Guards, in whose ranks Mannerheim had served himself. It was a custom in St Petersburg at the end of the 19th century that part of the officers’ salary was paid as drinks: one at breakfast and two at dinner. It was quite natural that everyone wanted the glass as full as possible, as the state was in charge of the costs.

In his youth Mannerheim experienced a bitter disappointment in Paris, when the French cuisine and the Russian drinking tradition clashed in a fateful manner. When he was having dinner in the company of Russians and ordering vodka before the meal, his order was declined. The French butler regarded the schnaps as a barbarian custom and sacrilege, which numbs the taste nerves. Despite the emotional outburst the butler did not give in, and the dinner party had to go and drink the schnapses in the bar.

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