Total Wine Removes Russian Alcohol Amid Ukraine Conflict

Liquor stores as well as the governors in Florida and 2 others states are boycotting Russian-made vodka out of solidarity with Ukraine.

Sarah Loganv, Patch Staff

Posted Wed, Mar 2, 2022 at 4:15 pm ET

FLORIDA ? Total Wine & More, which has 34 locations in Florida, has removed Russian products from its shelves nationwide.

The decision was made to support Ukraine amid the ongoing Russian invasion into their country.
The company made the announcement in an Instagram post and has received significant praise for the move, garnering thousands of "likes" on the post showing a photo of an empty shelf where Russian alcohol once was.

In addition to companies boycotting Russian products, the governors of both Utah and New Hampshire have ordered Russian-branded and Russian-made vodka to be pulled from the shelves in government-run liquor stores and the Ohio governor wants to halt the sales of all vodka made by Russian Standard, a Russian-owned maker that sells its liquor under two names in the state, Russian Standard and Green Mark.

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Showing their support for Ukraine as well, individual bar owners have begun boycotting popular brands of Russian vodka including Ustianochka, Jewel of Russia vodkas, Beluga Gold Line, Beluga Transatlantic Racing Russian and Beluga Allure vodkas, Zyr vodka, Husky vodka, Polugar Classic Rye vodka, Mamont Siberian vodka, Hammer + Sickle vodka, Nemiroff, Nemiroff Wheat, Nemiroff Honey Pepper and Nemiroff Cranberry vodkas, Imperia vodka, Ivanbiitch Cherry, Red Berry and Peach vodkas and Karkov Citrone vodka.

Some bar owners are mistakenly pouring out their stores of Stolichnaya and Smirnoff, although neither is made in Russia.

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Nearly all Stoli is made in Latvia, the former Soviet Republic, and Smirnoff is owned by Diageo beverage company in London.

For vodka drinkers wanting to support Ukraine, Khor vodka, is made at Ukraine's Khortytsa Distillery, and Vektor vodka, is made at the Rodnik Distillery, the oldest continually operating distillery on the eastern banks of the Volga River in Ukraine.

Correction: NEFT vodka was incorrectly included on WikiliQ.org's Best Russian Vodkas website. NEFT's director of communications, Bonnie McBride, said NEFT is distilled and packaged in Austria and, as noted on NEFT's unique packaging, all its ingredients are from Austria and Germany including its Alps spring water and Old-World ancient rye grains.

"The owner's wife is, in fact, Ukrainian, and everyone is devastated by this development," McBride said.

So, vodka drinkers can also add NEFT to their list of pro-Ukraine vodkas.