Tag Archives: Pravda Brewery

Craft Beer, Craft Breweries, International, Names, Philanthropy

Hello. My Name Is Vladimir

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In a previous blog entry I wrote about Pravda Brewery, a craft brewery in the Ukrainian city of Lviv. Faced with an invasion by the Russian military the brewery transformed at least part of its production space into a Molotov Cocktail factory. It was the brewery’s contribution to local resistance efforts. The bottles that were used in the assembly of the Molotov Cocktails were those that, under normal circumstances, would be filled with a Dry-hopped Golden Ale (ABV 8.0%) called “Putin Huilo”, which translates as “Putin is a Dickhead“. The label has a picture of a naked Putin sitting on a throne.

The label from Putin Huilo beer from Pravda Brewery

Putin is not the only political figure to appear on the label of one of Pravda’s beers. The brewery also produces an American-style Stout called Obama Hope, a Belgian-style Wit called Frau Ribbentrop, and a Mexican Imperial Lager called Trump. The labels of these three beers have pictures of former U.S. President Barack Obama, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and former U.S. President Donald Trump on them respectively. All the labels carry political messages.

The label on Obama Hope refers to President Obama as “a symbol of democracy and a guarantor of the global justice” As such. one of the President’s main tasks is to “safeguard peace and to prevent a new aggressor from starting World War III”. The message on the label goes on to reference Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea. Pravda was clearly hoping (the beer is named Obama Hope after all) that the American President would step in and assist Ukraine in its fight against the Russian aggressor. Referencing the aforementioned invasion, the label states, “Obama is still hesitating to provide real help to the Ukrainians in fighting it”. In what could perhaps be interpreted as some words of warning to President Obama, the label concludes its message with the statement that Obama “has all the chances to go down in history as the one who got it all wrong”

The label from Obama Hope beer from Pravda Brewery

The political message on the Frau Ribbentrop label is clear. The brewery is critical on Chancellor Merkel’s stance on the the 2014 Russian invasion of Ukraine’s Donbas Region, particularly her refusal to supply Ukraine with weapons to fight the Russian invaders and her insistence that the Ukrainian government hold direct talks with Donbas separatists, with a view to a negotiated settlement. Many Ukrainians were irked by Merkel’s position and inundated her Facebook page with comments, including some that suggested she was a modern-day von Ribbentrop. The name Ribbentrop is a reference to Joachim von Ribbentrop who was the German Foreign Minister between 1938 and 1945, and who played a key role in the negotiation, on behalf of Germany, of a number of key treaties. These included the “Pact of Steel” that was signed between Germany and Italy on May 22, 1939 and established a formal alliance between the two countries and linked them politically and militarily. Von Ribbentrop also negotiated the German-Soviet Non-aggression Pact of August 23, 1939, which according to one source “cleared the way for Hitler’s attack on Poland on Sept. 1, 1939, thus beginning World War II”. As far as Pravda is concerned, both Merkel and von Ribbentrop were ut from the same cloth and were complicit in facilitating conflict in Europe.

The label from Frau Ribbentrop beer from Pravda Brewery

Not surprisingly, Donald Trump, the 45th President of the United States also has a Pravda beer named after him. The beer is, appropriately, a Mexican Imperial Lager with an ABV of 7.2%. The label refers to Mr. Trump as “President of the Divided States of America” (a characterization borrowed from Time Magazine when they named Mr. Trump as their Person of the Year in 2016). The label calls President Trump “the symbol for the final era of true politicians” (not quite sure what is meant by that), while also labeling him as both a “sexist” and an “ideal family man”. In the background, an individual holds “Free Melania: placard.

The label from Putin Trump beer from Pravda Brewery

Pravda is not the only brewery to have brewed a beer inspired by President Putin. In 2014, the irreverent Scottish brewery, BrewDog brewed a double IPA which it named, Hello, My Name Is Vladimir. 2014 was the year that the Russian city of Sochi hosted the Winter Olympic Games. In 2013, a new Russian law that banned the promotion of “non-traditional sexual relations” to minors came into effect. The passage of this law was the catalyst for a number of gay rights protests across the world. Many of these protests occurred a few before the start of the Sochi Olympics. BrewDog chose to join the protests by brewing a beer. The label on the beer had four images of President Putin, all showing the Russian President wearing lipstick. The messaging on the label pokes further fun at President Putin, with statements such as “I am 100% hetero and will pass laws to prove it”. The bottom of the label contains the warning that the beer is “not for gays”. James Watt, co-owner of BrewDog, sent a case of the beer to President Putin at the Kremlin. No one is quite sure what President Putin thought of the beer.

The label from Hello. My Name is Vladimir beer from BrewDog
BrewDog sent President Putin a case of their Hello. My Name is Vladimir beer to President Putin

In response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine a number of American craft breweries produced beers that featured the Russian President. Rogue Ales & Spirits of Newport, OR brewed a Double IPA (ABV 8.4%) called F*#K PUTIN. The one-pint cans were adorned with the colors of the Ukrainian flag, with all the profits going to the Global Giving’s Ukraine Crisis Relief Fund. Intuition Ale Works of Jacksonville, FL brewed a Belgian-style Tripel (ABV 8%) which it named Hey Putin, Go F*ck Yourself!. Intuition’s beer was brewed as part of a larger global initiative called “Brew for Ukraine“. The money raised by breweries participating in the Brew for Ukraine project supports aid agencies assisting Ukraine refugees displaced by the war.

F*#C Putin, brewed by Rogue Brewing of Newport, OR
Hey Putin, Go F*ck Yourself!, brewed by Intuition Ale Works of Jacksonville, FL

In 2018, the small Finnish craft brewery, Rock Paper Scissors Brewing, produced a beer to coincide with a 2018 meeting between Presidents Trump and Putin in Helsinki, Finland. The beer was called “Let’s Settle This Like Adults”. The beer’s label, which had cartoon versions of Trump and Putin fist-bumping, included the tagline “Making Lager Great Again”. The brewery sent samples of the beer to both the US and Russian Embassies in Helsinki.

Let’s Settle This Like Adults was brewed to coincide with a 2018 meeting between Presidents Trump and Putin in Helsinki , Finland

Politics can be a divisive topic of conversation. Americans are warned not to raise political issues over the dinner table at family gatherings such as Thanksgiving and Christmas. Maybe we should try to take our cue from Rock Paper Scissors Brewing and start to behave like adults when it comes to engaging in political dialog with family and friends (and strangers).

Craft Beer, Craft Breweries, International, Philanthropy

Brew For Ukraine

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The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2020 captured the attention of the world. The pictures and videos emerging from Russian aggression are heartbreaking. Excluding Crimea, Ukraine has a population of just over 41 million people. In the first week of the conflict over a million Ukrainians ( mainly women, children, and the elderly) crossed international borders as the fled they horrors. By the end of April, 2022 that number had swelled to over 5.7 million. Most of these went to neighboring Poland. No one knows how many refugees this conflict will ultimately generate.

While looking on in horror, the international community has mobilized in efforts to provide assistance to both those who have fled Ukraine and those who remain. These include the U.S. Government, relief agencies such as the American Red Cross, and churches such as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. In communities across the United States, individuals and groups are also doing their part to raise funds for Ukrainian refugees. In Portland. OR, The Slavic Community Center of the Northwest held a fundraiser, while Jackson Henning, a 12 year old boy opened a Lemonade Stand in his hometown of Westmont, PA. In addition to these and other fundraising efforts, many craft breweries across the United States have also stepped up and are doing their part to support Ukrainian refugees.

Lakefront Brewery in Milwaukee, WI was the first American craft brewery to export their beer to Ukraine. Since 2016, Andy Jungwirth, Export Manager at Lakefront, has visited Ukraine on six occasions. During these visits he got to know the folks at Pravda Brewery pretty well. I wrote about Pravda Brewery in my last blog entry. Located in the city of Lviv, Pravda has shifted from brewing beer to producing Molotov Cocktails which are being used against the Russian invaders.

Such was the warmth of the relationship between Jungwirth and Pravda Brewery that Lakefront and Pravda collaborated on brewing a couple of beers, including an India Pale Lager, which they named Lviv-Milwaukee”. Given this close relationship between the two breweries, it is not surprising that news of the Russian invasion sparked a response from the American brewery. Walk into Lakefront today and purchase a 32 ounce crowler and you will find it wrapped in a specially designed blue label emblazoned with a caricature of Vladimir Putin with the words “Putin is a Dick” across his forehead. Funds raised from sale of these crowlers will be deposited with the National Bank of Ukraine, who will use them to provide humanitarian assistance to Ukrainians impacted by the Russian invasion. Lakefront hopes to raise at least $10,000 from the sale of its crowlers.

Specially wrapped “Putin is a Dick” crowlers from Lakefront Brewery. Source: LakefrontBrewery.com.

As noted above, Pravda Brewery has been very hands-on in its efforts to fight back against the Russian military. In addition to producing Molotov Cocktails, the brewery has made available the recipes for five of their beers. The beer recipes have been released as part of the “Brew for Ukraine Crisis Relief Project“. Participating in the project involves brewing at least one of the five beers and making a voluntary contribution to Pravda’s relief fund. Donations to the fund will be directed to the appropriate non-profits operating in Ukraine. The five beers, for which recipes have been made available are Putin Huylo (Dry Hopped Strong Ale), Syla (Belgian Tripel), Red Eyes (American Red Ale), and Frau Ribbentrtop (Belgian Witbier), and From San to Don (Ukrainian Imperial Stout). The beers are being branded as comprising the Victory Series. To date, breweries in Australasia, Asia, Europe, North America, and South America are participating in the initiative and are brewing at least one of these beers.

Breweries from five continents are participating in the Brew For Ukraine initiative (Source: https://www.brewforukraine.beer/)
Breweries across the United States are participating in the Brew For Ukraine initiative (Source: https://www.brewforukraine.beer/)
Catawba Island Brewing Company in Port Clinton, OH is one of the American breweries participating in the Brew for Ukraine initiative (Source: https://www.facebook.com/CatawbaIslandBrewingCo)

One aspect of the craft brewing industry that has always impressed me is its collaborative nature, and the willingness of breweries to rally around and step up to support a worthy cause. The Brewing for Ukraine initiative is an excellent example of this. But it is not the first. Other examples abound. in 2018, over 1,400 breweries in the United States participated in the Camp Fire initiative. Organized by Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., this effort raised millions of dollars to support those impacted by northern California wildfires. Participating breweries were invited to brew Resilience Butte County Proud IPA. In 2020, Other Half Brewing rallied brewers around the world to raise money for the hospitality industry that had been impacted by COVID-19. They did so by creating a recipe for a beer called All Together IPA. The recipe, as is common in such projects was open source and so was available to all breweries who wanted to participate.

Of course, the Brewing for Ukraine initiative will not change the course of the war in Ukraine. But it will provide vital relief to some Ukrainians who have been impacted the Russian invasion. As individuals, who watch in disgust and horror at the pictures/videos emerging from Ukraine, we can feel helpless. However, there are myriad opportunities to donate some money to help both those who have fled Ukraine and those who remain there. Next time you pop along to your local brewery, you might just find another way in which you can donate.

Community, Craft Breweries, International, Names

Putin Is A Dickhead

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As I write this blog entry the world watches on in horror at the atrocities committed by the Russian military as their invasion of Ukraine continues unabated. The images flashing across our television screen (and the screens of our smart phones and other smart devices) are heart-wrenching. The man behind these atrocities, of course, is the Russian President Vladimir Putin.

All of us follow the events in Ukraine with varying degrees of intensity. For me, I read and see enough to keep up with general contours of the conflict. As The Beer Professor, a lot of my time on the internet is spent looking for interesting stories about the brewing industry. But in one of my recent searches I came across a story where my interest in the brewing industry intersected with events in Ukraine. The headline varied from news outlet to news outlet, but they generally read something like this: “Brewer Swaps Making Craft Beer for Molotov Cocktails”. The brewery in question is Pravda Brewery in western Ukrainian city of Lviv.

For the uninitiated, a Moltotov Cocktail is a handheld petrol bomb that is “emblematic of civil unrest and revolution“. Somewhat ironically, Molotov cocktails take their name from the Russian politician Vyacheslav Molotov, who served as the Soviet Union’s foreign minister during World War II. The name is Finnish in origin (Molotovin Koktaili) and first appeared in our lexicon during the Soviet invasion of Finland in 1939. The actual device, however, pre-dates this event. The first use of Molotov Cocktails dates back to Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), where they were used by Franco’s Nationalists as a weapon to demobilize the Republican’s Soviet-supplied T-26 tanks.

Shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Yuriy Zastavny, owner of Pravda Brewery decided to repurpose its production space to supply his fellow Ukrainians with Molotov Cocktails. Molotov Cocktails are very simple to manufacture. All that is needed is a glass bottle, gasoline, kerosene, or alcohol, and a piece of cloth (to function as a wick).

Molotov Cocktails produced by Pravda Brewery in Lviv, Ukraine
This short video tells the story of Pravda Brewery converting its production space to produce Molotov Cocktails

The labels on the bottles used for Pravda’s Molotov Cocktails have a picture of a naked Putin sitting on a throne. Also on the label are the words “Putin Huilo”, which translates as “Putin is a Dickhead“. When I first saw the label on the Molotov Cocktail, I thought that the label had been specially designed with its new function as an incendiary device in mind. I was wrong. Putin Huilo is a Dry-hopped Golden Ale (ABV 8.0%) that is part of the brewery’s regular portfolio of beers, and has been brewed for a number of years. The label provides some additional background about the beer and the surrounding political context. The label, for instance, mentions Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 (which coincidentally was the year that Pravda Brewery was established). The label also notes that “Putin Huilo” is a worldwide nickname for the President Putin and also an “international chant first performed during a common march by FC Metalist and FC Shakhtar in March 30, 2014”. That got me curious – so I did a bit of googling.

The label on Putin Huilo provides the political context for the beer’s name

FC Metalist Kharkiv and FC Shakhtar are Ukranian soccer teams. Of the two, I am most familiar with Shakhtar Donestsk. Shakhtar play in the top flight of Ukranian soccer and in recent recent years have been regular participants in the Champions League – Europe’s premier and most prestigious soccer competition. In contrast, Metalist Kharkiv play in the second tier of Ukrainian soccer. They have an interesting history in that that they ceased operations in 2016, as a result of financial insolvency (they owed their playing staff 32 million Euros in back pay). The club was re-established in 2020. According to Wikipedia, the first recorded public performance of the  chant (and the song that grew from it) occurred in March 2014 in Kharkiv when Metalist fans chanted in a march through the city’s streets. The chant was partly in response to Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea. Several Ukrainian rock bands have included the chant in some of their music. According to journalist Alex Luhn, writing in Britain’s Guardian newspaper, the chant quickly became “a nationwide cultural meme“. Rival soccer fans came together, put their rivalries to one side, and chanted the chant in street marches in various Ukraininan cities. In a soccer match between Belarus and Ukraine in October 2014, fans from both country’s joined together in the chant during the game. A number of fans were arrested. Eight Ukrainian fans were given a jail sentence by a court in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, while some Belarus fans were fined. The video of fans chanting has been removed from the YouTube platform.

The video of soccer fans from Ukraine and Belarus chanting “Putin is a Dickhead” is no longer available on the YouTube platform

As I read about Pravda Brewery and the decision to produce Molotov Cocktails, I could not help but smile and think to myself about how typical this action was. Craft breweries all over the world try to be good citizens and strive to make a positive difference to the vibrancy and quality of life in their respective communities. In doing so, many try to respond to the needs of their patrons and neighbors, whether that be donating some profits to a local charity or transforming part of their space into a temporary yoga studio for a local yoga group. In turning their brewery into a production space for Molotov Cocktails, Pravda Brewery are providing a community service and are responding to the needs of the local community. To Pravda I say Будьмо (Cheers).