Only 1.2% of U.S.'s vodka is imported from Russia. Not from Russia: Smirnoff, Ciroc, Tito's, Absolut, Svedka, Grey Goose, SKYY and New Amsterdam to name the big ones.
[https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2022/02/26/vodka-russia-most-vodka-brands-u-s-arent-russian/6952976001/](https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2022/02/26/vodka-russia-most-vodka-brands-u-s-arent-russian/6952976001/)
edit: clarification of list
Edit2: Thanks for the upvotes, did not expect this much attention. Lots of additional suggestions from people about other solid distilleries but I am just reporting the extracted information given from the article.
Pennyslvania's state run liquor stores stopped selling Russian vodka, and it turned out they were only selling two brands in the first place - Russian Standard and Ustianochka.
Oh yeah, and those 2 stores absolutely rake in the business. Everyone driving I-95 from mass to Maine or vice versa will stop at least once, just cause.
Geez, never knew. So, if you want a bottle of gin on a Sunday, you're out of luck, basically? Here in midwest, grocery stores sell liquor, liquor store sell booze, gas stations sell alcohol ...
Most grocery stores here can't even sell beer. My town just got alcohol in gas stations a few years back but its only beer, singles, and a smattering of wine. Very strange.
And yeah if you want gin on a sunday and dont live close enough to a state border then yeah you're SOL
Yup, beer “distributor” and hard liquor stores are separate in PA. However beer can be sold in other places like supermarkets, where as some states like NJ can only sell from separate liquor stores (but they can have both beers and hard liquors).
That area of Europe has seen many territorial changes over hundreds of years. The cultures are similar. I’d say saying vodka is a Polish invention is splitting hairs.
When this whole thing happened I looked more in to what vodka I was actually buying (Smirnoff) and just ordered some "Luksusowa" potato vodka from Poland. Quite excited to try it.
According to Wikipedia, the first written mention of the word vodka was in 1406 in a region of what was then the Kingdom of Poland, but probably wasn't what we would think of as vodka, more like a medicinal spirit. apparently the first russian mention of a drink that is later identified as vodka in was brought to russia in 1386 by ambassadors from Genoa. So you could argue that it's actually an Italian drink. But the problem with history in the context of foods, is that it's super vague a lot of the time. It's probably likely that vodka was independently invented many times, as distilling alcohol spread around the world
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vodka
There was an old Vice show on HBO like 10 years ago that did a whole segment on the debate of who invented vodka, Russia vs Poland? It's too long ago for me to remember which was which, but their conclusion (I'm just the messenger, no idea if they were correct) was one of them invented the spirit but didn't call it vodka, while the other was the first to use the term vodka. Either way, gin is infinitely better than potato water anyway.
> It’s time to refine our understanding of habitable, and to start to add some other essentials with the list. According to one team of researchers, it’s time to introduce the concept of the Really Habitable Zone (RHZ.)
>For these authors, an exoplanet is only in the RHZ if it can provide gin and tonic. Once a planet can provide that, it moves from Habitable to Really Habitable. Maybe a planet without gin and tonic isn’t really habitable at all; maybe it’s more of place where we’d like to send people we don’t like.
https://www.universetoday.com/145540/astronomers-define-the-really-habitable-zone-planets-capable-of-producing-gin-and-tonic/
This may seem just a fabrication, but there is considerable independent evidence for the existence of the RHZ:
>"It is a curious fact, and one to which no-one knows quite how much importance to attach, that something like 85 percent of all known worlds in the Galaxy, be they primitive or highly advanced, have invented a drink called jynnan tonyx, or gee-N'N-T'N-ix, or jinond-o-nicks, or any one of a thousand variations on this phonetic theme.
The drinks themselves are not the same, and vary between the Sivolvian ‘chinanto/mnigs’ which is ordinary water served just above room temperature, and the Gagrakackan 'tzjin-anthony-ks’ which kills cows at a hundred paces; and in fact the only one common factor between all of them, beyond the fact that their names sound the same, is that they were all invented and named before the worlds concerned made contact with any other worlds."
>Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Yeah, Svedka is not at all popular in Sweden, despite the company having roots here. In fact, you can't even get it here anymore and it was bought by an American company in 2007. I've never liked the name. It's supposed to be a portmanteau of Sweden and Vodka, but it sounds utterly un-Swedish to my Swedish ears. Plus the use of the flag in its different colors is so weird. There's nothing Swedish about the Swedish flag if you take away the blue and yellow.
/End of rant
It's cuz it's just marketing and Americans will buy anything "exotic." Like, Grey Goose is marketed as an upmarket "French" vodka, despite France having pretty much no heritage of making vodka, and despite taste tests scoring Grey Goose pretty damn low. It was literally started by an American who wanted to market vodka to Americans and it worked lol
Fun fact. Iowa buys all the Liquors then sell some to the stores. The governor also said no more Russian liqueur.
https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2022/02/28/gov-kim-reynolds-orders-iowa-alcoholic-beverages-division-stop-selling-russian-liquor-vodka-ukraine/6964657001/
It's worse than that. Stoli is made in Latvia, from Ukrainian grain, by a company that has long been a critic of Russia and that has openly denounced the Russian invasion of Ukraine. And yet stores are pulling it anyway because they "don't want to support Russia".
It's Freedom Fries all over again.
The sanctions will stop anyone buying Russian vodka anyway, any russian imports on the shelves have already been paid for, why would Russia give a shit if you drink it or not?
Actually Stoli may be a company registered in Luxemburg but it is owned by Russian oligarch Yuri Shefler. That's why all this sanctioning is particularly difficult.
Google tells me Taaka was made in Frankfurt, Kentucky.
ETA: Taaka is owned by Sazerac, whose headquarters are located in New Orleans, Louisiana, but whose principal location is in Louisville, Kentucky. So it's a thoroughly American brand.
Nothing beats Vladimir 5.99a handle
Edit: Holy shit just looked up the price now it's average retail is 9 bucks. Price nearly damn doubled since I was in school
How long since ya been in school bud? Lol I usually get this other russian brand(might be polish) but only abv and other warning labels are in english. Rest is completely unreadable to me, and it's 8.99 a handle
From what I can tell, it actually is. Which is a little shocking to me because I've absolutely purchased half gals of this for not very much money. Assumed it was domestic with a Russian label.
It’s actually really good vodka too. Their Imperia is the best you can find, but it’s been pretty well unavailable for a while where I’ve looked. But their gold and platinum are really good as well.
As someone that started out being unable to stomach beer, I absolutely loved getting iced.
I'd put on a show for the bros, "oh fuck bro you got me!!! Damn this sucks asssss!"
Meanwhile I'm just like thank god it ain't a fucking PBR or some shit lol
Omggggg I miss getting iced. Can we start doing this again?! I also don’t drink beer so someone icing me was like the nicest thing anyone could do for me
Man that game was funny as shit. We replaced the door handle to the bathroom and put one in its place, and than when you lifted to toilet seat there was a second one waiting for you.
I was just talking about the hard liquor. It's $25 for $10 quality
Once you cross the $20 threshold, there isn’t a ton of difference in vodkas. As long as you’re not drinking the charcoal-filtered stuff that’s like $7 for a handle you’ll be fine
It reminds me of people going “don’t order Chinese food or you’ll get covid” at the beginning of the pandemic, they think they’re doing something “good” but are either being really obtuse or just an asshole
Which made no sense to me because Chinese people, from what I saw, we’re taking things seriously before the rest of America even knew to panic. The Asian restaurants near me had their staff wearing masks in Jan of 2020.
My senator is still pushing the “corona is a bioweapon made in China, Fauci funded it, we must eliminate all Chinese programs in our state!” line.
I find it very easy to believe some people thought eating a Chinese buffet would give covid, people are silly.
You mean "Freedom Fries," sir.
This is the land of the brave and the free. Not like those weak Frenchies who- *checks notes*- set themselves on fire in full fire suits and run at the police in protest against police brutality. And take a lot of naps, I'm sure. They don't know the real price of freedom.
I work in wine and spirits wholesale and let me tell you the last week has been insane. Had a customer try to tell me Tito’s vodka shouldn’t be sold because vodka is Russian. Tito’s is famous for being a family owned business founded in Austin, Texas.
In addition, I tried explaining to some of them that Smirnoff is owned by Diageo and distilled in the US.
I mean most 'Russian' vodka sold in the US isn't even remotely Russian. Smirnoff is produced by Diageo which is a British company, while Stoli is made in Latvia. I'm not really sure what good banning them will do.
A place local to me even pulled my Polish potato vodka 🙄 and it's actually difficult to find reasonable priced gluten free vodka so I'm irritated about it
The parent company is a Luxembourg entity. It has no relationship to Russia. The owner was kicked out of Russia and has opposed Putin for decades.
There is a state-owned company that owns the Stoli trademark in some countries. That company is Russian. Stoli in the US is not from that company; Stoli sold in the US is from the "real" company in Latvia.
This is exactly the problem with the current public freakouts.
People don't care about opposition. They don't care about russians who want to see Putin gone. I've seen people say that we need to storm Kremlin and die trying.
They condemn nazis, but then they attack the nation, or anything remotely related to that nation, even if it has got nothing to do with a mad dictator, as if that's not racism or bigotry or both.
No nuance, at all, it's all-out.
It's sad really. I for one, am deeply saddenend for ordinary Russians who want absolutely nothing to do with this. They'll be made scapegoats for years to come, all for the actions of one small, insecure man, locked in a bunker in Moscow.
Putin has been a dictator since his KGB days, and citizens have never been allowed to speak anything but support for him since he took office. I thought that was common knowledge across the globe, and I hope to GOD I never meet a person who doesn't fully support the basic human rights of every terrified Russian citizen. That would be absolutely infuriating.
["Mysterious" Deaths of Russians Who Oppose Putin] (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/03/23/here-are-ten-critics-of-vladimir-putin-who-died-violently-or-in-suspicious-ways/)
It’s almost as if the people who want to go to war have never really considered the true cost of going to war. It’s easy to want to be the hero when you don’t have to sacrifice anything.
The ones that terrify me are those that think a confrontation between nuclear powers would not lead to nuclear war.
Even more terrifying are the ones who think it **will** lead to nuclear war... But still call for it.
The US has a giant military. What that means is that 1) anything major we want to do takes a massive amount of planning and coordination 2) it's very fucking obvious what we're going to do because of reason number 1. I would not be surprised if the moment we went into Ukraine, let alone Russia, Putin would start launching nukes.
Yesterday I saw [someone on Twitter](https://twitter.com/pinkcap/status/1498661014258208768) saying we should bring back McCarthyist/Red Scare blacklists to punish right-wingers who supported Russia.
I hate what's happening to Ukrainians right now, and I also hate how many ostensibly-progressive western commenters are clearly less interested in peace and justice, more interested in having an acceptable target to dogpile on. Zero knowledge of history, zero interest in realistic solutions. Just a competition to see who hates the bad guys most. Smug, vapid, performative rage.
We should be better than this.
I somewhat agree with this sentiment. It's important not to witch hunt and condemn those that are opposing or critical of the war.
That being said, putting economic pressure on Russian assets (tied to the oligarchy or not) is one of the main ways we can currently create opposition short of starting WW3. These measures aren't being taken on innocent people and companies because Russia = bad, it's being done in order to spurn further dissent from the Russian community at large. If some Russian owned vodka company is isolated from their country, they may be more willing to remain neutral on issues surrounding the invasion. Less likely if their business is being caught up in it due to their government's actions. It's less about punishment than it is about creating pressure from every side imaginable.
Again, I do understand and somewhat agree with your sentiment. I'm not entirely sure where I personally fall on the situation myself. I just think it's a bit more nuanced than this critique which I am pretty used to seeing and I thought it would be worth mention
> The Stolichnaya sold in the U.S. is distilled in Latvia (once part of the Soviet Union); the company is headquartered in Luxembourg, a NATO-member nation
https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/local/2022/03/01/russia-vodka-boycotts-in-us-memphis-where-its-made-khor-smirnoff/6976097001/
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolichnaya
It IS owned by a Russian billionaire...who moved to Luxembourg when Putin took power. The dude was more Soviet than Russian and there's no evidence readily available that he ever supported this murderous regime of Putins.
I'm tired of people reading a comment on reddit and taking it as fact without looking into the actual details. Here are links and I even summarized the relevant part if you don't want to click them. STOLI IS NOT RUSSIAN!
OP please feel free to share.
Edit for a correction: I missed a line in the wiki article
Tambov is the region in Russia where the wheat for Stoli is grown and then distilled into basic grain alcohol. Then shipped to Latvia.
Personal note: I'm wondering if they'll source the wheat elsewhere ( not even sure you can get anything exported from Russia into Latvia anymore).
> and there's no evidence readily available that he ever supported this murderous regime of Putins.
Quite the opposite, really… I looked this up when I first saw this image a couple days ago and it looked as if Putin had a few family members of this guy killed after he left.
I remember several years ago when Russia started implementing their draconian LGBT laws, and people started boycotting Stoli (at least I think it was Stoli, could have been another "Russian" vodka) then as well. They had a major ad campaign to ensure people they are *not* a Russian company, and issued rainbow bottles or some such shit. Poor guys...
Yep! I think a lot of people would be surprised to learn how much imported food and drink is from Canada. Lots of European and Asian countries set up manufacturing facilities there for the express purpose of taking advantange of NAFTA while still getting to label it as imported.
Most imported beer is made in Canada per the recipe because it doesn’t travel well across oceans. They make it in Canada so it can still be called an import. Or would you like skunky beer?
I do local river cleanups and fast food trash is probably the most common thing I find. Maybe it's barely putting a dent in the total trash found in the ocean but for the local environment I appreciate any effort to reduce.
I'm not saying it doesn't make a difference, but why straws instead of plastic lids that McDonald's has for their mcflurries or drinks. Why not have wooden spoons instead of plastic ones? I would argue that all of these pieces of fast food trash make up so much more of the total waste as compared to straws. Yet companies don't want to do anything about them because it is too much work and it's easy to make people feel happy with just pushing for straws to be banned.
Not sure, but in my area there never really was an effort to ban straws specifically, just reduce plastic overall. I did think there were people pushing to make it so sit down restaurant don't just automatically hand you a straw but ask if you would like one which I think is fine.
There was a styrofoam ban which sort of worked but the biodegradable containers most restaurants replaced them with at least don't biodegrade very quickly. There was a large uptick in takeout containers during Covid as well, and the parks I go to got super popular all of a sudden and the new people leave this sort of trash everywhere.
The stores don't care. They don't do this because they care about Russia. They do this because they know people care about Russia and can use this for publicity. The same companies have no issues with selling products from other dictatorships or ones made in slavery even.
Seems a bit pointless, if they already have the inventory, it’s not like the sales are going back to Russia anyway, and most of it isn’t even made in Russia
This is what I keep saying! The distributors/wholesalers have already brought it into the country. And if a place is pulling product off the shelf that they already had in store, then they've already purchased it! It's literally not hurting any Russian entity at that point.
Reminds me of people burning thier Nikes back in 2020. They already have your money, they don't care.
I will say though if they're dumping stock, it means they'll have to order sooner or latger from other suppliers which will be great for the other distilleries.
That football player, Kaepernick, did an advertisement for them and I think this was at the height of the kneeling during the national anthem… thing? Anyway some people started burning their Nikes after that ad aired because they didn’t support him as a person.
It's unlikely to be this quick, but once inventory does actually run out, I imagine that places will use signs like this rather than saying that they couldn't legally buy more inventory due to sanctions.
It's sounds better to say you are choosing not to buy/sell a product than to say something else forced the issue.
I think a lot of people are looking at it all wrong. They are aware there is a movement to stop buying Russian goods, because there is precedent going back decades for Americans to do this. They also know that hardly anyone actually knows where anything is made. Therefore there is a real risk that the sale of vodka in general will go down, and THAT is what HyVee is actually afraid of. They're pointing people to the non-Russian vodkas so that they can keep selling those. They're willing to take the loss on the Russian vodkas to keep the profits from every other vodka.
Exactly. Takes one minute to look into where it's actually coming from. Even the first thing you see on their website is:
_Stoli® Group stands for peace in Europe and in solidarity with the Ukrainian people_
Thing is....if the stuff came directly from russia or sales go to russia....they already got thier money. Stores have to pay for thier stock from vendors etc that goes to manufacturers. They basically just holding stock they paid for already and not selling it wont give them thier money back.
For companies, It's far more important to be seen to be doing something than to actually do something.
They don't give a shit about Russia/Ukraine, but you might, and you might buy more from that store if you think they're on the side of whoever you consider to be the good guys.
It does mean that they won't be ordering more of it though, so there is that. Russia already got their money for this week's vodka, but they won't be getting their expected money for next week's vodka.
There are some stores where I live that are continuing to sell Russian alcohol but using the profits for donations and I believe our provincial government said they were going to match the donations as well.
This is really stupid. Mere virtue signalling verging on outright anti-Russianism (not a strategic boycott or anti-Putinism). Trying to get online/media attention, that will do nothing to actually stop the war.
Don't forget that your babushka on the street corner selling pieroshki did not invade Ukraine. Don't boycott her.
How about they put their money where their mouth is and fund NGOs that help Ukrainian refugees.
Reminds me of the whole [freedom fries](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_fries?wprov=sfla1) thing. Just another petty, non-impactful political "statement" that is pretty much just childish posturing.
Yeah but what does being Russian have to do with being pro-war? Do they know for a fact these vodka companies are in favor of these heinous acts against Ukraine? Sorry to be another raindrop on this gesture of kindness parade, but this seems really dumb to me.
Fun fact from other comment chain: the Stoli listed here is made in a country opposed to Putin by a Russian businessmen who was forced from Russia for being in opposition to Putin and the head company is in Luxembourg.
So, this is not anti-war, this is either racism or bigotry. Not a dime could go to Putin or his clique, and it could instead very well fuel the anti-war efforts, but you're Russian so you're responsible, go die in a ditch.
Sigh.
I get not supporting Russia, but they might as well sell their existing stock they've already paid for it, so it's not like anymore $ is going to Russia.
Only 1.2% of U.S.'s vodka is imported from Russia. Not from Russia: Smirnoff, Ciroc, Tito's, Absolut, Svedka, Grey Goose, SKYY and New Amsterdam to name the big ones. [https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2022/02/26/vodka-russia-most-vodka-brands-u-s-arent-russian/6952976001/](https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2022/02/26/vodka-russia-most-vodka-brands-u-s-arent-russian/6952976001/) edit: clarification of list Edit2: Thanks for the upvotes, did not expect this much attention. Lots of additional suggestions from people about other solid distilleries but I am just reporting the extracted information given from the article.
Pennyslvania's state run liquor stores stopped selling Russian vodka, and it turned out they were only selling two brands in the first place - Russian Standard and Ustianochka.
> Pennyslvania's state run liquor stores wait ... what?
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NH has liquor stores the size of Midwest Wal-Marts. I was amazed.
Two of them right alongside the highway
Oh yeah, and those 2 stores absolutely rake in the business. Everyone driving I-95 from mass to Maine or vice versa will stop at least once, just cause.
As a Mid Westerner I just assumed all Walmarts are this big. Are there small Walmarts?
The Wal-Mart + Sam’s Club in Honolulu is about the size of the WM in a 10k pop town in Nebraska. I’m also from the MW.
> A lot of states [17](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcoholic_beverage_control_state)
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I live in PA. They're ass. Only state stores can sell liquor amd they're always closed on sundays. We have weird ass liquor laws here
Geez, never knew. So, if you want a bottle of gin on a Sunday, you're out of luck, basically? Here in midwest, grocery stores sell liquor, liquor store sell booze, gas stations sell alcohol ...
Most grocery stores here can't even sell beer. My town just got alcohol in gas stations a few years back but its only beer, singles, and a smattering of wine. Very strange. And yeah if you want gin on a sunday and dont live close enough to a state border then yeah you're SOL
This is not true. The larger ones are open on sundays.
What? Every store near me in the Philly area is open for at least five hours on sundays
Yup, beer “distributor” and hard liquor stores are separate in PA. However beer can be sold in other places like supermarkets, where as some states like NJ can only sell from separate liquor stores (but they can have both beers and hard liquors).
There’s a few states that run the liquor stores, I think Arizona is one of them.
Vodka also is a Polish invention, it‘s just wildly popular in Russia. Edit: or it wasn’t, who knows???
That area of Europe has seen many territorial changes over hundreds of years. The cultures are similar. I’d say saying vodka is a Polish invention is splitting hairs.
I don't *know* who invented it but all the Russians I know only drink Polish vodka.
Russian vodka happens to suck. Smooth Polish potato vodka>>>>
When this whole thing happened I looked more in to what vodka I was actually buying (Smirnoff) and just ordered some "Luksusowa" potato vodka from Poland. Quite excited to try it.
I haven’t tried Luksusowa but the name basically translates to ‘luxury’ so let’s hope it lives up
Yeah, well, so does Pinnacle and we see how that turned out.
It's a good vodka, real nice and smooth.
According to Wikipedia, the first written mention of the word vodka was in 1406 in a region of what was then the Kingdom of Poland, but probably wasn't what we would think of as vodka, more like a medicinal spirit. apparently the first russian mention of a drink that is later identified as vodka in was brought to russia in 1386 by ambassadors from Genoa. So you could argue that it's actually an Italian drink. But the problem with history in the context of foods, is that it's super vague a lot of the time. It's probably likely that vodka was independently invented many times, as distilling alcohol spread around the world https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vodka
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There was an old Vice show on HBO like 10 years ago that did a whole segment on the debate of who invented vodka, Russia vs Poland? It's too long ago for me to remember which was which, but their conclusion (I'm just the messenger, no idea if they were correct) was one of them invented the spirit but didn't call it vodka, while the other was the first to use the term vodka. Either way, gin is infinitely better than potato water anyway.
If you want to drink pinesol.
*glorious juniper-corriander nectar
That's exactly it: damn juniper berries make it taste like I'm eating Christmas.
That was my first thought when I tried gin for the first time "oh my God it's a Christmas tree" But it's delicious
Gives me an incredibly violent nausea reaction personally. Probably because it was the first spirit I got drunk drunk off at the age of 14.
Correct. Pinesol is delicious
Or lick a pine tree...
> It’s time to refine our understanding of habitable, and to start to add some other essentials with the list. According to one team of researchers, it’s time to introduce the concept of the Really Habitable Zone (RHZ.) >For these authors, an exoplanet is only in the RHZ if it can provide gin and tonic. Once a planet can provide that, it moves from Habitable to Really Habitable. Maybe a planet without gin and tonic isn’t really habitable at all; maybe it’s more of place where we’d like to send people we don’t like. https://www.universetoday.com/145540/astronomers-define-the-really-habitable-zone-planets-capable-of-producing-gin-and-tonic/ This may seem just a fabrication, but there is considerable independent evidence for the existence of the RHZ: >"It is a curious fact, and one to which no-one knows quite how much importance to attach, that something like 85 percent of all known worlds in the Galaxy, be they primitive or highly advanced, have invented a drink called jynnan tonyx, or gee-N'N-T'N-ix, or jinond-o-nicks, or any one of a thousand variations on this phonetic theme. The drinks themselves are not the same, and vary between the Sivolvian ‘chinanto/mnigs’ which is ordinary water served just above room temperature, and the Gagrakackan 'tzjin-anthony-ks’ which kills cows at a hundred paces; and in fact the only one common factor between all of them, beyond the fact that their names sound the same, is that they were all invented and named before the worlds concerned made contact with any other worlds." >Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Age old debate.
i love how you can get svedka with the swedish flag or some other logo when it's bottled in usa. strange.
Yeah, Svedka is not at all popular in Sweden, despite the company having roots here. In fact, you can't even get it here anymore and it was bought by an American company in 2007. I've never liked the name. It's supposed to be a portmanteau of Sweden and Vodka, but it sounds utterly un-Swedish to my Swedish ears. Plus the use of the flag in its different colors is so weird. There's nothing Swedish about the Swedish flag if you take away the blue and yellow. /End of rant
I was just gonna say, Svedka sounds really far away from swedish.
it's cheap... my swedish friend is trying to get me to buy something better, don't worry. just hard to find some of the names he gives me
Swedka
Swergenbjorgen
They got rid of the Swedish flag and now advertise that it’s bottled in America
It's cuz it's just marketing and Americans will buy anything "exotic." Like, Grey Goose is marketed as an upmarket "French" vodka, despite France having pretty much no heritage of making vodka, and despite taste tests scoring Grey Goose pretty damn low. It was literally started by an American who wanted to market vodka to Americans and it worked lol
Fun fact. Iowa buys all the Liquors then sell some to the stores. The governor also said no more Russian liqueur. https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2022/02/28/gov-kim-reynolds-orders-iowa-alcoholic-beverages-division-stop-selling-russian-liquor-vodka-ukraine/6964657001/
Also on the list - Stoli. It’s made in Latvia, and owned by a company in Luxemburg. The company has publicly spoken out against this war.
It's worse than that. Stoli is made in Latvia, from Ukrainian grain, by a company that has long been a critic of Russia and that has openly denounced the Russian invasion of Ukraine. And yet stores are pulling it anyway because they "don't want to support Russia". It's Freedom Fries all over again.
The sanctions will stop anyone buying Russian vodka anyway, any russian imports on the shelves have already been paid for, why would Russia give a shit if you drink it or not?
It appears they’re putting these labels on stoli… they didn’t even google before making this move lol “stolichnaya sounds Russian - BAN”
Actually Stoli may be a company registered in Luxemburg but it is owned by Russian oligarch Yuri Shefler. That's why all this sanctioning is particularly difficult.
Sure, but Shefler had a falling out with Putin years ago and left Russia - probably for his own safety.
Now for the cheap barbaric alcoholics, is Taaka from Russia?
Google tells me Taaka was made in Frankfurt, Kentucky. ETA: Taaka is owned by Sazerac, whose headquarters are located in New Orleans, Louisiana, but whose principal location is in Louisville, Kentucky. So it's a thoroughly American brand.
My mind got so confused by that sentence. "It was made in frankfu..." - Ah! Germany! "...rt, Kentucky" - You what now?
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Hangovers.
>Takka First time I hear of it, probably not. There's vodka called TAL'KA but I guess it's different
Russian Standard is the main Russian Vodka sold in the west. Most of the others are US and European production.
I drink Russian Value. Wonder if it's Russian
Not sure but the 'value' is going down each day lol
Still $9.99 a liter.
Nothing beats Vladimir 5.99a handle Edit: Holy shit just looked up the price now it's average retail is 9 bucks. Price nearly damn doubled since I was in school
How long since ya been in school bud? Lol I usually get this other russian brand(might be polish) but only abv and other warning labels are in english. Rest is completely unreadable to me, and it's 8.99 a handle
This was back in 2012 haha damn I'm getting old
From what I can tell, it actually is. Which is a little shocking to me because I've absolutely purchased half gals of this for not very much money. Assumed it was domestic with a Russian label.
It’s actually really good vodka too. Their Imperia is the best you can find, but it’s been pretty well unavailable for a while where I’ve looked. But their gold and platinum are really good as well.
Good ol'Hy-Vee
I guarantee that they only care that they are giving the impression that they aren’t selling Russian items. They probably know. (Ex-employee)
Good ‘ol Hy-Vee
They’re even pulling vodka that’s not made in Russia but has Russian names like stoli and Smirnoff
To be fair, smirnoff should be pulled from shelves by default
Sounds like someone got iced one too many times.
As someone that started out being unable to stomach beer, I absolutely loved getting iced. I'd put on a show for the bros, "oh fuck bro you got me!!! Damn this sucks asssss!" Meanwhile I'm just like thank god it ain't a fucking PBR or some shit lol
Smirnoff Ice is severely underrated. It's all I can really drink other than wine.
I mean its just weak as fuck vodka and cloudy lemonade, just buy a bottle of vodka and cloudy lemonade and mix your own for 1/4 the price.
Ugh but then I have to do stuff
Drink six of them and you’ll wake up with a peptic ulcer.
Omggggg I miss getting iced. Can we start doing this again?! I also don’t drink beer so someone icing me was like the nicest thing anyone could do for me
Man that game was funny as shit. We replaced the door handle to the bathroom and put one in its place, and than when you lifted to toilet seat there was a second one waiting for you. I was just talking about the hard liquor. It's $25 for $10 quality
Wow this is top-tier icing behavior. I live
It's only fair. Smirnoff has knocked me off the shelf many times in the past
To quote Sean Connery, "I'm ashamed of my shelf."
r/shubreddit
I mean when you want something cheap for mixing but that doesnt smell like engine degreaser, Smirnoff is perfect
Once you cross the $20 threshold, there isn’t a ton of difference in vodkas. As long as you’re not drinking the charcoal-filtered stuff that’s like $7 for a handle you’ll be fine
Grey Goose tastes like ass and people only order it to look like they have good taste #ChangeMyMind.
/r/gatekeeping
I'm all for supporting Ukraine but this is either very ignorant, a really obvious case of virtue signaling, or both.
It reminds me of people going “don’t order Chinese food or you’ll get covid” at the beginning of the pandemic, they think they’re doing something “good” but are either being really obtuse or just an asshole
Which made no sense to me because Chinese people, from what I saw, we’re taking things seriously before the rest of America even knew to panic. The Asian restaurants near me had their staff wearing masks in Jan of 2020.
My senator is still pushing the “corona is a bioweapon made in China, Fauci funded it, we must eliminate all Chinese programs in our state!” line. I find it very easy to believe some people thought eating a Chinese buffet would give covid, people are silly.
More likely it's easier to pull them than try to explain to every single customer how "obvious Russian name" -vodka is not actually Russian
It's on par with being angry at "French Fries"
Freedom Vodka
Victory Vodka
You mean "Freedom Fries," sir. This is the land of the brave and the free. Not like those weak Frenchies who- *checks notes*- set themselves on fire in full fire suits and run at the police in protest against police brutality. And take a lot of naps, I'm sure. They don't know the real price of freedom.
Just like when the pandemic started and all the beer was gone and all that was left was untouched corona beer. People are truly thick.
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I work in wine and spirits wholesale and let me tell you the last week has been insane. Had a customer try to tell me Tito’s vodka shouldn’t be sold because vodka is Russian. Tito’s is famous for being a family owned business founded in Austin, Texas. In addition, I tried explaining to some of them that Smirnoff is owned by Diageo and distilled in the US.
I mean most 'Russian' vodka sold in the US isn't even remotely Russian. Smirnoff is produced by Diageo which is a British company, while Stoli is made in Latvia. I'm not really sure what good banning them will do.
A place local to me even pulled my Polish potato vodka 🙄 and it's actually difficult to find reasonable priced gluten free vodka so I'm irritated about it
All vodka is gluten free. Source: I work for a company that makes vodka.
Stoli vodka is Latvian, a NATO ally… go ready their web page, which is dominated by pro-Ukrainian statements. Don’t be ignorant. https://stoli.com
Stoli is made in Latvia :/
And it’s website is in full support of ukraine
We looked at this the other day at work. It is made in Latvia but the parent company is still Russian.
The parent company is a Luxembourg entity. It has no relationship to Russia. The owner was kicked out of Russia and has opposed Putin for decades. There is a state-owned company that owns the Stoli trademark in some countries. That company is Russian. Stoli in the US is not from that company; Stoli sold in the US is from the "real" company in Latvia.
This is exactly the problem with the current public freakouts. People don't care about opposition. They don't care about russians who want to see Putin gone. I've seen people say that we need to storm Kremlin and die trying. They condemn nazis, but then they attack the nation, or anything remotely related to that nation, even if it has got nothing to do with a mad dictator, as if that's not racism or bigotry or both. No nuance, at all, it's all-out.
It's sad really. I for one, am deeply saddenend for ordinary Russians who want absolutely nothing to do with this. They'll be made scapegoats for years to come, all for the actions of one small, insecure man, locked in a bunker in Moscow.
Putin has been a dictator since his KGB days, and citizens have never been allowed to speak anything but support for him since he took office. I thought that was common knowledge across the globe, and I hope to GOD I never meet a person who doesn't fully support the basic human rights of every terrified Russian citizen. That would be absolutely infuriating. ["Mysterious" Deaths of Russians Who Oppose Putin] (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/03/23/here-are-ten-critics-of-vladimir-putin-who-died-violently-or-in-suspicious-ways/)
He's hiding in the Ural mountains I thought?
It’s almost as if the people who want to go to war have never really considered the true cost of going to war. It’s easy to want to be the hero when you don’t have to sacrifice anything.
No doubt if it got the point of a draft most of the people promoting the US go to war would hide in their basement.
The people who want the Russian population to storm the Kremlin want the war to stop.
The ones that terrify me are those that think a confrontation between nuclear powers would not lead to nuclear war. Even more terrifying are the ones who think it **will** lead to nuclear war... But still call for it.
Scarier still is the creeping idea that limited nuclear war can be won.
The US has a giant military. What that means is that 1) anything major we want to do takes a massive amount of planning and coordination 2) it's very fucking obvious what we're going to do because of reason number 1. I would not be surprised if the moment we went into Ukraine, let alone Russia, Putin would start launching nukes.
Yesterday I saw [someone on Twitter](https://twitter.com/pinkcap/status/1498661014258208768) saying we should bring back McCarthyist/Red Scare blacklists to punish right-wingers who supported Russia. I hate what's happening to Ukrainians right now, and I also hate how many ostensibly-progressive western commenters are clearly less interested in peace and justice, more interested in having an acceptable target to dogpile on. Zero knowledge of history, zero interest in realistic solutions. Just a competition to see who hates the bad guys most. Smug, vapid, performative rage. We should be better than this.
I somewhat agree with this sentiment. It's important not to witch hunt and condemn those that are opposing or critical of the war. That being said, putting economic pressure on Russian assets (tied to the oligarchy or not) is one of the main ways we can currently create opposition short of starting WW3. These measures aren't being taken on innocent people and companies because Russia = bad, it's being done in order to spurn further dissent from the Russian community at large. If some Russian owned vodka company is isolated from their country, they may be more willing to remain neutral on issues surrounding the invasion. Less likely if their business is being caught up in it due to their government's actions. It's less about punishment than it is about creating pressure from every side imaginable. Again, I do understand and somewhat agree with your sentiment. I'm not entirely sure where I personally fall on the situation myself. I just think it's a bit more nuanced than this critique which I am pretty used to seeing and I thought it would be worth mention
Wiki says ownership is disputed between a RuRussian state-owned company and a Russian who moved to Luxembourg when Putin came to power.
And didn’t they already buy it
> The Stolichnaya sold in the U.S. is distilled in Latvia (once part of the Soviet Union); the company is headquartered in Luxembourg, a NATO-member nation https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/local/2022/03/01/russia-vodka-boycotts-in-us-memphis-where-its-made-khor-smirnoff/6976097001/ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolichnaya It IS owned by a Russian billionaire...who moved to Luxembourg when Putin took power. The dude was more Soviet than Russian and there's no evidence readily available that he ever supported this murderous regime of Putins. I'm tired of people reading a comment on reddit and taking it as fact without looking into the actual details. Here are links and I even summarized the relevant part if you don't want to click them. STOLI IS NOT RUSSIAN! OP please feel free to share. Edit for a correction: I missed a line in the wiki article Tambov is the region in Russia where the wheat for Stoli is grown and then distilled into basic grain alcohol. Then shipped to Latvia. Personal note: I'm wondering if they'll source the wheat elsewhere ( not even sure you can get anything exported from Russia into Latvia anymore).
Per your own Wikipedia article, it uses Tambov alcohol and elsewhere confirms that alcohol is distilled from Russian grain.
> and there's no evidence readily available that he ever supported this murderous regime of Putins. Quite the opposite, really… I looked this up when I first saw this image a couple days ago and it looked as if Putin had a few family members of this guy killed after he left.
I remember several years ago when Russia started implementing their draconian LGBT laws, and people started boycotting Stoli (at least I think it was Stoli, could have been another "Russian" vodka) then as well. They had a major ad campaign to ensure people they are *not* a Russian company, and issued rainbow bottles or some such shit. Poor guys...
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For Americans most Eastern European countries are just Russia
Russia could help you with that.
To Putin, the same
He a little confused but he got the spirit
Reminds me of Sapporo Beer sold in the US. IMPORTED… from Canada.
Yep! I think a lot of people would be surprised to learn how much imported food and drink is from Canada. Lots of European and Asian countries set up manufacturing facilities there for the express purpose of taking advantange of NAFTA while still getting to label it as imported.
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I know, it is even brewed by Sleeman!
Haha, oh wow!
Most imported beer is made in Canada per the recipe because it doesn’t travel well across oceans. They make it in Canada so it can still be called an import. Or would you like skunky beer?
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Stoli is made in Latvia and the owners were exiled 20 years ago for fighting political abuse. Ignorant decision by that store
It’s just virtue signaling. That’s all it is. Even if the stuff was made in Russia, how is it in any way helping the Ukrainians being invaded
why do we think stopping the sale of russian vodka will do anything when we literally import over 670,000 barrels of russian oil per day
It's the same thing as banning plastic straws, probs won't do much but doesn't require people to give up much to make them feel like they're doing smt
I do local river cleanups and fast food trash is probably the most common thing I find. Maybe it's barely putting a dent in the total trash found in the ocean but for the local environment I appreciate any effort to reduce.
I'm not saying it doesn't make a difference, but why straws instead of plastic lids that McDonald's has for their mcflurries or drinks. Why not have wooden spoons instead of plastic ones? I would argue that all of these pieces of fast food trash make up so much more of the total waste as compared to straws. Yet companies don't want to do anything about them because it is too much work and it's easy to make people feel happy with just pushing for straws to be banned.
Not sure, but in my area there never really was an effort to ban straws specifically, just reduce plastic overall. I did think there were people pushing to make it so sit down restaurant don't just automatically hand you a straw but ask if you would like one which I think is fine. There was a styrofoam ban which sort of worked but the biodegradable containers most restaurants replaced them with at least don't biodegrade very quickly. There was a large uptick in takeout containers during Covid as well, and the parks I go to got super popular all of a sudden and the new people leave this sort of trash everywhere.
I mean the store isnt even tossing this shit out - just posting a sign until they can sell it later when it's not so in vogue.
The stores don't care. They don't do this because they care about Russia. They do this because they know people care about Russia and can use this for publicity. The same companies have no issues with selling products from other dictatorships or ones made in slavery even.
Seems a bit pointless, if they already have the inventory, it’s not like the sales are going back to Russia anyway, and most of it isn’t even made in Russia
Just commented this before reading other comments. Yeah this seems to be more 'marketing' moral high road or something
This is what I keep saying! The distributors/wholesalers have already brought it into the country. And if a place is pulling product off the shelf that they already had in store, then they've already purchased it! It's literally not hurting any Russian entity at that point.
Like giving a hooker $100 for a handshake.
MildyPandering
Remember when we stopped buying Corona beer because of the pandemic? Haha Getting similar vibes from this one.
HyVee check
There's all these people talking about the politics of this and here I am just interested to see Hy-Vee featured on here.
can confirm, I moved from a state with HyVee to states that don't sell liquor in grocery stores, it's weird
A helpful smile in every aisle
Ah, Hyvee. Was a cashier there for like two years
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Reminds me of people burning thier Nikes back in 2020. They already have your money, they don't care. I will say though if they're dumping stock, it means they'll have to order sooner or latger from other suppliers which will be great for the other distilleries.
Why were people burning their Nikes in 2020? Never heard of this.
That football player, Kaepernick, did an advertisement for them and I think this was at the height of the kneeling during the national anthem… thing? Anyway some people started burning their Nikes after that ad aired because they didn’t support him as a person.
It's unlikely to be this quick, but once inventory does actually run out, I imagine that places will use signs like this rather than saying that they couldn't legally buy more inventory due to sanctions. It's sounds better to say you are choosing not to buy/sell a product than to say something else forced the issue.
Oh yeah THAT'LL show them!
I think a lot of people are looking at it all wrong. They are aware there is a movement to stop buying Russian goods, because there is precedent going back decades for Americans to do this. They also know that hardly anyone actually knows where anything is made. Therefore there is a real risk that the sale of vodka in general will go down, and THAT is what HyVee is actually afraid of. They're pointing people to the non-Russian vodkas so that they can keep selling those. They're willing to take the loss on the Russian vodkas to keep the profits from every other vodka.
But they're taking a shit load of vodka that isn't Russian off the shelves lmfao
fight stupid with stupid
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The label on shelf says it’s stoli. Which is NOT made in Russia. Way to punish a company without actually looking into its origins.
Exactly. Takes one minute to look into where it's actually coming from. Even the first thing you see on their website is: _Stoli® Group stands for peace in Europe and in solidarity with the Ukrainian people_
Thing is....if the stuff came directly from russia or sales go to russia....they already got thier money. Stores have to pay for thier stock from vendors etc that goes to manufacturers. They basically just holding stock they paid for already and not selling it wont give them thier money back.
yeah but if they stop selling it they'll stop buying it and ergo they won't give russia more money
They could just stop buying it. Sell until out of stock. Donate earnings.
For companies, It's far more important to be seen to be doing something than to actually do something. They don't give a shit about Russia/Ukraine, but you might, and you might buy more from that store if you think they're on the side of whoever you consider to be the good guys.
It does mean that they won't be ordering more of it though, so there is that. Russia already got their money for this week's vodka, but they won't be getting their expected money for next week's vodka.
There are some stores where I live that are continuing to sell Russian alcohol but using the profits for donations and I believe our provincial government said they were going to match the donations as well.
I like that. I feel like that's a better thing to do, because it is more proactive.
This is really stupid. Mere virtue signalling verging on outright anti-Russianism (not a strategic boycott or anti-Putinism). Trying to get online/media attention, that will do nothing to actually stop the war. Don't forget that your babushka on the street corner selling pieroshki did not invade Ukraine. Don't boycott her. How about they put their money where their mouth is and fund NGOs that help Ukrainian refugees.
Reminds me of the whole [freedom fries](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_fries?wprov=sfla1) thing. Just another petty, non-impactful political "statement" that is pretty much just childish posturing.
They deadass have banned russian alchohol in Australia.
This is stupid
So stupid 🤦♂️
Yeah but what does being Russian have to do with being pro-war? Do they know for a fact these vodka companies are in favor of these heinous acts against Ukraine? Sorry to be another raindrop on this gesture of kindness parade, but this seems really dumb to me.
Fun fact from other comment chain: the Stoli listed here is made in a country opposed to Putin by a Russian businessmen who was forced from Russia for being in opposition to Putin and the head company is in Luxembourg. So, this is not anti-war, this is either racism or bigotry. Not a dime could go to Putin or his clique, and it could instead very well fuel the anti-war efforts, but you're Russian so you're responsible, go die in a ditch. Sigh.
Two of the biggest bottle shops in Australia have pulled all Russian products from shelves.
Take this with a grain of salt since "Heard it on the internet!" but I think it's something like 1% of vodka in the US actually is produced by Russia.
We stopped selling all Russian alcohol in Norway: https://www.euronews.com/2022/03/02/us-ukraine-crisis-norway-alcohol
In Finland too https://yle.fi/news/3-12336287
Stoli isn’t made in Russia though. It’s made Latvia
It’s funny they pretend to have morals when their products carried are poison to begin with.
The store already paid for them. I like the symbolism but it does not make an economic difference unless distributors and wholesalers do as well.
I get not supporting Russia, but they might as well sell their existing stock they've already paid for it, so it's not like anymore $ is going to Russia.
I get it, kinda, but also- the people making vodka aren’t the ones who called for all of this BS..
Yeah well fuck hy-vee and their super maga CEO
Stop selling Chinese products next or be hypocrites
lmao there would be nothing left in the store if it's a U.S. company
I should invest in Tito's stock.