Customers at Caddies Bar and Steakhouse in Bethesda, Maryland, can still order the classic cocktail made with vodka, spicy ginger beer and lime, but its name has changed from Moscow Mule to Kiev Mule.
Ronnie Heckman, 31, who owns the restaurant on the outskirts of the US capital, said he has stopped buying and serving Russian vodka in solidarity with Ukraine, which has been attacked by Moscow forces since last week in a conflict that is shaking the planet.
“We hope that others will join us as we continue to make the world aware of what is happening right now,” said Heckman, whose family has had ties to Ukraine and Russia for generations.
Behind the bar, Heckman now serves Kiev Mules and Black Ukrainians or White Ukrainians instead of their Russian counterparts. (White Russian, for example, is a drink that features coffee liqueur, vodka, cream and crushed ice), and some of the money he makes from selling the reformulated drinks goes to an emergency aid fund for Ukrainian children. .
Russian vodka does not dominate North American liquor markets, but for US and Canadian officials and companies, removing Russian brands from shelves and menus is a valuable symbol of support for Ukraine and a visible form of international rejection. to Moscow for the invasion.
There are also shops, restaurants and bars that have abandoned Russian vodka in states ranging from Kansas (in the center of the country) to Vermont (northeast region).
The Magic Mountain ski resort in Londonderry (Vermont) posted a video online that shows one of its bartenders saying “I’m sorry we don’t serve Russian products here” while emptying a bottle of Stoli (a flavor-added version) down the drain. of Stolichnaya vodka).
In Virginia, one of 17 US states where the government manages the sale and distribution of hard liquor, the Virginia Alcohol Control Authority (VABC) pulled Russian-origin vodka brands from nearly 400 stores on Sunday.
“We did it to heed Governor (Glenn) Youngkin’s call for measures to support Ukraine,” which he released on Saturday, said Carol Mawyer, public relations manager at VABC.
‘Get rid of all Russian vodka’
In New Hampshire, another state in which the state government controls liquor sales, Governor Chris Sununu ordered the withdrawal of “Russian liquor from our liquor and wine stores until further notice.”
“New Hampshire supports the people of Ukraine in their fight for freedom,” Sununu tweeted.
The governors of West Virginia, Ohio and Texas, among others, did the same in ordering, or calling for, the elimination of all Russian products.
“Dispose of all Russian vodka and, accompanied by ammunition and missiles, send the empty bottles to Ukraine for them to use to make Molotov cocktails,” tweeted Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, evoking images of Ukrainian civilians who unite to convert empty bottles into gasoline incendiary bombs in order to defend the country against advancing Russian troops.
In Canada, the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board for the province of Ontario announced on Friday that all products made in Russia would be withdrawn from their outlets.
Other provinces have taken similar steps in recent days and Peter Bethlenfalvy, a provincial lawmaker in Ontario, called the move “a stance against Russia’s tyranny and oppression”.
The bans are not limited to North America. Finland’s state-owned liquor distributor banned Russian products on Monday, a decision that affects 30 brands, mostly vodka.
The body responsible for Sweden’s state alcohol monopoly announced that it would block the sale of Russian products.
While banning the sale of Russian vodka may not have major economic impacts in the United States, it is “the backbone of Russia’s liquor industry,” according to the United States Distilled Alcoholic Beverages Council (Discus), and therefore the measures provide an eye-catching way of drawing attention to the issue.
Caddy Mule cocktails were already popular, and Heckman said that within the first day after the revamp, people were already asking for the new variant.
“We sold 400 of them in a week,” he said, “and it will be beautiful to see Kiev Mule instead of Moscow Mule on the computer screen.”
Translation by Paulo Migliacci
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