Ukraine’s Pravda Beer Theatre hit the international news after its owners added Molotov Cocktails to the menu. Yes, that’s right. The kind you throw at tanks and armoured vehicles.
The craft brewer, based in the city of Lviv in western Ukraine, decided that was an important way it could help citizens defend themselves against the Russians.
Now Pravda has come up with another idea to support the defence of the country and it’s catching on beyond Ukraine’s borders. Several weeks ago the brewer started canning a special beer called Putin is a Dick and selling it to raise funds for wartime relief.
When they put out a call to craft brewers around the world to support the effort, Torchlight Brewing Co. in Nelson answered the call. This small brewery recently re-Christened its Vienna Lager as – you guessed it – Putin is a Dick and is donating all proceeds to Ukraine. Owner Craig Swendson said he has no direct connection to Ukraine but was moved by Pravda’s humanitarian beer brewing effort.
“People came in excited,” Swendson told a local Nelson radio station. “The run of cans that we had sold out in three hours the first day.”
And VanIsle craft brewers are joining in.
A Comox Valley brewer has also been raising funds for Ukraine.
During a three-day event, Courtenay’s Ace Brewing Company sold perogies and lottery tickets for gift bags filled with products donated by local businesses. After the money was counted Ace handed nearly $3,000 to the Canadian Red Cross’s Ukraine Campaign and almost $2,200 to the Canada-Ukraine Foundation.
In times of trouble, beer builds bridges.
