Protests are pouring in! Hundreds of bars across the US dump their Russian vodka in show of solidarity with Ukraine
By ALASTAIR TALBOT
The protests are pouring in.
Hundreds of liquor stores and bars across the U.S. and Canada are removing Russian vodka and other Russian-made alcoholic beverages from their shelves in protest of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
After weeks of warnings from Western leaders, Russia unleashed a three-pronged assault of Ukraine from the north, east and south on Thursday, in an attack that threatened to upend Europe’s post-Cold War order.
Liquor stores in the provinces of Manitoba and Newfoundland said they were removing Russian spirits, while Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, also directed the Liquor Control Board Of Ontario to withdraw all Russian products. Meanwhile, in the U.S., videos circulated on social media of bars and liquor stores emptying their Russian vodka and removing bottles from their shelves in a show of solidarity with Ukraine.
‘Ontario joins Canada’s allies in condemning the Russian government’s act of aggression against the Ukrainian people and we strongly support the federal government’s efforts to sanction the Russian government,’ Ontario Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy said in a statement.
‘The people of Ontario will always stand against tyranny and oppression.’
More than 700 stores across the province will remove Russian-imported products, which include Stoli Vodka, Russian Standard Original Vodka, Beluga Noble Russian Vodka, Karkov Vodka and Zyr Vodka. Smirnoff, while founded in Moscow, is owned and produced by U.K. company Diageo.
Canada imported C$4.8 million (US$3.78 million) worth of alcoholic beverages from Russia in 2021, according to Statistics Canada (Statscan) data. That is down 23.8 percent from C$6.3 million in 2020. Vodka is the second most popular spirit among Canadian consumers after whiskey, Statscan said.
Elsewhere in Canada, other provinces including New Brunswick, British Columbia and Nova Scotia have taken a similar stance.
‘The Newfoundland and Labrador Liquor Corporation, along with other Liquor jurisdictions throughout Canada, has made the decision to remove products of Russian origin from its shelves,’ the NLC Liquor Store said in a tweet.
In the U.S., a liquor stores in Wichita, Kansas, has removed more than 100 bottles of Russian vodka from its shelves and pouring some of it on the ground in protest to Putin’s actions.
‘I think the whole world knows by now that Russia’s at war with Ukraine for no apparent reason,’ Jamie Stratton, wine director and partner of Jacob Liquor Exchange, told KSNW-TV in Wichita, Kansas.
‘I guess this is our sanction … and this may be small, but every small thing makes a difference.’
In Oregon, the owner of Pine Tavern in Bend recorded himself emptying all of his Russian vodka, according to FOX 12 of Portland.
‘Russia is acting as though it’s 1939 and going into Europe with a full force that they have in the Ukraine,’ owner Bill McCormick told the station. ‘I am so concerned about it metastasizing into other countries.’
He added that he expects to lose a few hundred dollars over his decision – but said that the protest was worth it.
Pine Tavern owner pours all the Russian vodka down the drain
Pine Tavern owner pours all the Russian vodka down the drain
Another bar owner in Grand Rapids, Michigan, told MLive.com swept off his shelves as a ‘protest against the aggression.’
‘I just made the decision on the spot,’ Bob Quay, owner of Bob’s Bar, said. ‘It’s just something little we can do.’
Quay added that, once it’s warmer outside, he might organize an event to pour the bottles out in the parking lot in front of a crowd, MLive reported.
A ski resort in Vermont seemingly had similar ideas but took a more drastic approach — pouring vodka down the drain.
‘Sorry @Stoli lovers,’ Magic Mountain Ski Area said in a Tweet. ‘No more.’
In a video attached to the tweet, a customer off-camera can be heard asking for a Stoli and soda. The bartender tells him that ‘we don’t serve Russian products here,’ before dumping a bottle of Stolichnaya vodka down the bar counter’s drain.
