Ukrainian bars replace Aperol Spritz with substitutes. The background to this is resentment of the Campari group’s business ties to Russia.

KIEV — The Aperol Spritz is so popular that the cocktail has become practically synonymous with summer in Europe, as connoisseurs gather on balconies and bars for orange-hued aperitifs. But in Ukraine, many bars that used to serve appetizers are now boycotting the drink because the brand’s owner, Italian group Campari, has decided to continue operating in Russia.

“We had glasses with Aperol on them, so we smashed them or threw them in the trash,” says Pavlo Lavrokhin, 29, a waiter at Squat 17B, a hangout behind an apartment block in central Kiev.

Consisting of two parts Aperol – a bitter liqueur whose main ingredients are gentian, rhubarb and eucalyptus bark – three parts Prosecco and a splash of sparkling water, the drink is poured over a glass of ice and topped with a slice of orange. It is considered the perfect drink that worshipers drink against the heat.

Ditching the drizzle is completely out of the question—the Ukrainian crowd loves the cocktail. That’s why Squat 17B and other bars abandoned Aperol, and instead offered an alternative made with similar orange spirits from other Italian companies.

Lavrukhin’s Bar also removed the word „Aperol” from the menu and replaced it with a cocktail The gun spritz Rename it. In the past month, 110 rebranded brews, 370 Negroni drinks, and 120 Boulevardiers have been served at Squat 17B — all without a single drop of Campari spirit.

After 18 months of war in Ukraine, the country is still looking for ways, big and small, to cut off foreign financing to Russia – in part by boycotting companies still operating in the country. This month, the Ukrainian government designated Bermuda-based Bacardi as an international wartime sponsor, saying the company — whose brands include Gray Goose vodka, Bombay Sapphire gin and Martini — had expanded operations in Russia since last year. It is even actively looking for new products. employees.

And the Campari group announced last year that it had stopped all advertising and promotional activities in Russia, where it employs 122 people, and „reduced work to the minimum necessary to pay the salaries of our colleagues.” The company also said it provided emergency funds to its employees in Ukraine and helped them find shelter.

„Our position is what we have declared publicly since the beginning of the war,” said Enrico Boccedi, a spokesman for Campari.

Russia is the primary market for the sale of the Aperol Spritz

But such statements are seen as frivolous by many in Ukraine. Along with Italy, Germany, France and the USA, Russia is one of the group’s primary markets for the sale of Aperol. In 2022, the group’s total sales in Russia and Ukraine will be about 3 percent of total sales.

In the first quarter of this year, the group’s international sales increased by nearly 20 percent. The company has been an official partner of the Cannes Film Festival for two consecutive years. And in June, I co-sponsored an event on Capitol Hill featuring Representatives Bill Passrell Jr. (D-NJ) and Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.), both of whom are vocal pro-Ukrainians. None of their offices responded to requests for comment.

“Total withdrawal from the Russian market was the only possible situation from our point of view,” said Dmytro Krymsky, 52, co-founder of Goodwine, a major high-end grocery and liquor store in Kiev that will sell more than $338,000 worth of Campari products in 2021. „. .

Krimsky said the store has since ended its partnership with Campari as part of „primary decisions” it made after evaluating its suppliers’ responses to the Russian invasion.

He added that Goodwin had not previously worked with Bacardi, but had ruled out any possibility of working with the company in the future and was „actively working to exclude other brands that have ties to Russia”.

Russia confiscates Carlsberg breweries

Some providers that did not quickly withdraw from Russia are now facing difficulties. And after Danish brewer Carlsberg Group announced last month that it would sell its assets in Russia to an unnamed buyer, eight of its breweries, which employ a total of 8,400 people, were taken over by Moscow.

And in the spring, the French company Pernod Ricard, which distributes the Swedish vodka Absolut, caused outrage in Sweden after reports that it was selling its products on the Russian market. In April, the company backtracked and announced that it would end all Absolut sales to Russia.

Western companies, which are under pressure to halt operations in Russia, have expressed fears that a complete shutdown of production could lead to allegations from the Russian authorities. that they would deliberately go bankrupt, and that the local staff could be held responsible. Ukrainians do not understand this claim.

Any company that continues to operate and pay taxes in Russia is “sponsoring the war,” according to Dasha Andryushenko, 32, marketing director at the popular Pure & Naive restaurant and bar in central Kiev. „For two months after the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022, we didn’t even think about consuming alcoholic beverages and didn’t place any orders,” she said. The restaurant has been turned into a volunteer center where civilians congregate to cook meals for the Ukrainian forces fighting around Kiev.

She added that when the pub reopened in the spring of 2022, she consulted with other bars in Kyiv about alcohol companies’ ties to Russia. At this point, the managers decided to stop shopping at Campari and Bacardi.

An empty martini bottle is a joke.

In August, customers at Restaurant Squat 17B sipped orange juice on the terrace and drank spirits from the Italian company Luxardo – not Aperol. Pure & Naive later morphed into an alternative called Gamondi. It was very difficult to verify that [Luxardo] „Cooperate with Russia or not,” Andryushenko said.

Luxardo did not respond to several requests from the postto comment on current relations with Russia, but Instagram posts from a Moscow liquor retailer indicate that some Luxardo products are still available there.

Yevgeny Babi, 20, a waiter at Champagne pizzeria in Kyiv, still keeps a bottle of his martini behind his bar. „It’s a joke because it’s empty and no one can ask for it,” he said.

In general, according to Babi, his bar is trying to replace the brands that are still operating in Russia. „But this is very complicated,” he said. “Frankly, we will not prevent these companies from making money in Russia if they want to. All the companies that wanted to leave Russia for ethical reasons have already disappeared.”

Aperol, Martini and Campari were displayed in a neighboring bar. as a reporter from mail When I wanted to talk to the bartenders in Ukrainian about how they felt selling these products, the manager refused. She replied in Russian: „They won’t talk to you because they are just the workers.” „When it’s all over, we’ll take care of him.”

Not everyone in Ukraine is interested in politics

One night in Kryvyi Rih, Yana Ovdy, 31, and her friend Natasha Polyakova, 46, sat in an upscale hotel restaurant and ordered an Aperol Spritz each — unaware that there was a boycott against Campari.

The two got together to cheer each other on because Polyakova’s husband had just been recruited. Her 24-year-old son was already in the army, and she feared losing them both. „This period is difficult,” Ovdi said.

Some bartenders personally make sure that products are not served

Ilya Petrovsky, 26, a waiter at Malevich, a restaurant in a busy part of Kiev, said brands still operating in Russia were being phased out. The only product Malevich still has from Bacardi on his shelves is Oakheart Spiced Rum, and once the bottle runs out, Petrovski said, „we have no intention of placing any further orders.” The bar has also renamed the White Russian cocktail the Dead Russian and donates all proceeds from the sale of this cocktail to the Ukrainian military. „As a Ukraine, in a country where we are at war, I don’t want me or the bar I work in to support these brands with money,” he said.

Lavrokhin, a bartender at Squat 17B, moved to the bar last year when Russian forces advanced on Kiev. He and other employees slept side by side on the floor and spent their days mending petrol bombs in anticipation of Russian tanks passing through the streets of Kiev. They took turns guarding the door with machete and spade.

After the Kiev region was liberated and the tavern reopened, they decided to do everything they could to support the war – they donated to the army and boycotted the brands that still existed in Russia. They know their efforts are unlikely to succeed, but they hope other bars in Europe will follow suit.

Lavrokhin said any boycott of products still being sold in Russia „is in our interest.” „It’s more about Ukraine.” (Sioban O’Grady, Kostyantin Khodov, Anastasia Galushka and Heidi Levine)

We are currently testing machine translation. This article has been automatically translated from English to German.

This article was first published in English on August 27, 2023 on the website „Washingtonpost.comIt was published – as part of the collaboration, and is now also available in translation for readers of IPPEN.MEDIA portals.