The governors of Texas , Ohio and New Hampshire on Saturday ordered state retailers to remove Russian spirits from their shelves, joining a trend of Americans targeting vodka, a quintessentially Russian liquor, to protest Russia’s war in Ukraine.But data shows these protests should only affect a tiny fraction of all U.S.vodka imports.Only 1.2% of U.S.vodka imports which come from Russia, according to data from the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States for the first half of 2021.Vodka is the only spirit listed as a Russian import in the report.The connection between Russia and vodka runs deep.
The clear liquor distilled from grains gets its name from the Russian word “voda” (вода), which means water, and has long been associated with the Slavic country.
But the most popular vodkas in the U.S.— including Smirnoff, Ciroc, Tito’s, Absolut, Svedka, Grey Goose, SKYY and New Amsterdam — are not made in Russia.They are made in Sweden, France, the U.K.and the U.S.
WATCH: How the Russia-Ukraine conflict could affect gas prices, stocks in the US PHOTOS: World expresses support for Ukraine and outrage over Russian invasion Many vodka brands do have Russian-sounding names, said Bump Williams, founder and president of BWC consulting company, which works with hundreds of U.S.alcohol distributors and retailers.
Williams thinks there will be a lot of emotions in the coming months regarding which vodkas people choose to drink.“I think there’s going to be people asking for specific brands of vodka that they’re familiar with and know are not made in Russia,” he said.
Businesses across the nation are taking the lead, targeting the small number of Russian vodka brands in their supply.Williams said retailers in California, Texas, Arizona, New York, Florida, Colorado and Ohio have sent him photos of them pouring out Russian vodka this week.Local news outlets across the country have shared similar stories in recent days.In Kansas and Michigan a local news station reported liquor stores have taken Russian vodka off their shelves and are instead promoting Ukrainian vodka.
One Las Vegas pizzeria is advertising five dollar shots of Ukrainian vodka to raise funds for humanitarian relief there — complete with a name insulting Russian President Vladimir Putin.
But not every protest has been well researched.A tavern owner in Bend, Oregon said he poured out all of his Russian vodka .A video on the tavern’s Facebook page shows the owner pouring out two bottles of Stoli vodka — even though the brand not made in Russia or owned by a Russian company.Stoli vodka, which is made in Latvia (which is a NATO member country) is owned by a company in Luxembourg that is controlled by Yuri Shefler, a Russian-born billionaire who left Russia, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer .
“When you start to get down to the Stolis of the world, that’s where a question mark comes into play,” Williams said.Perhaps the most clearly Russian brand is Russian Standard — owned by Roustam Tariko, a Russian oligarch.Anti-Russian backlash also led to vodka “boycotts” in 2013, after the Kremlin banned so-called gay propaganda, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported .Contributing: the Associated Press.
