Stalinskaya Vodka

LCBO pulls vodka brand linked to Joseph Stalin after uproar

The LCBO will no longer sell a specific brand of vodka after uproar about it being named after the infamous Soviet dictator, Joseph Stalin. 

The vodka brand the LCBO is discontinuing is named Stalinskaya. 

A post was shared by the Ukrainian Canada Facebook group calling out the LCBO and questioning the establishment's need for a history lesson. 

The post reads, "LCBO is selling "Stalinskaya Vodka", a product named after Joseph Stalin, a tyrant responsible for torturing and murdering millions in the Soviet GULAG camps."

"Stalin deported and annihilated whole ethnic communities of Chechens, Ingushes, Tatars; organized a man-made genocide Holodomor killing millions of Ukrainians; built a regime that had been mass-murdering people with contrarian options and beliefs for seventy years," continues the post. 

Since the post was made on Friday afternoon, the LCBO has made swift action to discontinue the product from its stores. 

The LCBO emailed the Ukrainian Canadian Congress stating that "we have received a number of comments from our customers and community members regarding Stalinskaya Silver Vodka. As such, the LCBO undertook an additional review of the product and found that the name and label do not meet the LCBO's standards." 

Ihor Michalchyshyn, the CEO of Ukrainian Canadian Congress told blogTO that, "We are pleased that they responded quickly and decisively to review the product. But of course, we are concerned that it was originally listed and we would like to learn more about the community standards." 

The UCC has since requested access to the LCBO's product standard guide and policy.

According to the Stalinskaya website, the name was inspired by the Russian word "stal", meaning steel. 

Lead photo by

barmevents


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