KZBlog

My wife recently returned from a business trip to Ust-Kammengorsk, in the East of Kazakhstan. This region is famous for its elixir made from pantocrine—extract of reindeer antler. She brought home a variety of tonics. One made just from the antlers extracted in alcohol. Another also contains honey and berries. Another has blood from the antlers in it!

In general pantocrine is a health tonic to make you strong, help you heal, and give you energy. Traditionally it’s very good for male potency (nudge nudge wink wink), a widely held belief about horns.

The bottle recommended a teaspoon in your tea and my wife thought that because it makes you energetic, it was a good think to have in the morning. So the other morning I opened up the bottle. The first thing that hit me was the clear scent of vodka. I took a small sip and thought, “Well, the alcohol content doesn’t seem very strong; none of that throat burning associated with vodka.” I went to make some coffee and suddenly realized that my head was buzzing a bit! After a small teaspoon in my coffee and the passage of an hour or so, my head is still buzzing.

So pantocrine has something in it! One does wonder if this is how henpecked husbands get their vodka doses:
“Where have you been all night? Is that vodka I smell?”
“Oh no, no..that’s pantocrine. It’s medicine!”
“Oh, well that’s all right then.”

I did decide that whether it’s the alcohol or the power of reindeer horn, being drunk at 9 in the morning is a bit much! I’m taking my dose at night when I can enjoy it! For today, I think I’ll just sit around the house and take my medicine!