How Alcohol is Being Used in the Ukraine-Russian War
In the beginning of the coronavirus lockdowns, numerous distilleries, brewers, and other makers of alcoholic beverages could be found converting their production lines from spirits to sanitizers. If coronavirus was a war, this was a 'spirited' way to contribute to the war effort.
Faced with an actual war, alcohol has become a uniting force in fighting against Russia's attacks on Ukraine.
The Pravda brewery in an industrial part of western Ukraine's Lviv, is responding to the invasion by switching its production lines from producing beer to making Molotov cocktails. Lviv sits near the Polish border. According to AFP, the brewery began producing the cocktails for the Ukrainian Territorial Defence Forces on February 26.
Closer to home, some governors in the United States have ordered state-run liquor stores to stop selling Russian vodka. Reuters is reporting Utah Governor Spencer Cox instructed the state's Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control on Saturday to take off all Russian-produced and branded products from the shelves of its retail stores. Utah joins New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia in what could be described as a symbolic gesture of support for Ukraine.
Even bars and alcohol-serving establishments in other states have taken up symbolic arms against Russian spirits by removing, pouring, or boycotting the products. Axios has a round-up of establishments across the U.S.—from the Las Vegas strip to Vermont's Magic Mountain—that are doing their small part to show support of Ukraine.
