Ukrainian vodka producers toast a rise in global sales

When Russia invaded Ukraine last year its vodkas were quickly removed from shelves around the world. It was an opportunity for rival Ukrainian brands to take their place.

Yuriy Sorochynskiy says that he and his colleague are "filled with immense pride" that their Ukrainian vodka Nemiroff continues to see sales soar around the world.

"We are thrilled and excited to see our brand being recognised globally," adds the company's chief executive.

"And we are grateful to our customers abroad who are choosing Nemiroff out of solidarity with Ukraine."

Vodka, the neutral, clear spirit that a great many people would say only tastes of alcohol, doesn't normally make newspaper headlines.

With annual global sales of $46.6bn (£37.5bn), its a ubiquitous product that drinkers around the world add to soft drinks, use as the base for a cocktail, or down neat as a "shot".

Yet last year, vodka suddenly found itself in the international media spotlight following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The start of the conflict resulted in Western consumers, retailers and governments boycotting and banning Russian vodkas.

At the same time, Western vodka brands that have Russian sounding names, such as global bestseller Smirnoff, were quick to point out that they aren't actually from Russia. Smirnoff is instead owned by UK drinks giant Diageo.

The national origin of vodka is both hotly contested and difficult to define due to changing borders and countries over the centuries. But most drinks historians would agree that today's Poland, Russia and Ukraine are the historic heart of vodka production.

With Russian vodkas still mostly absent from international shelves, previously little-known Ukrainian brands are continuing to take their place. Yet maintaining production in a war-torn country is, unsurprisingly, not without its difficulties.

Immediately following the Russian invasion, Nemiroff had to close its main distillery for a month. This is located in the city of Nemyriv, some 250km (155m) south west of the capital Kyiv.

Like most businesses in Ukraine it has subsequently been affected by power cuts due to Russian attacks on electricity infrastructure. Despite this, the firm says it has seen a big rise in exports, including a two-fold increase in sales in the UK.

"It's heartwarming to see people supporting our country through their purchasing decisions," says Mr Sorochynskiy.

Fellow Ukrainian vodka boss Dima Deinega says that his distillery, based in the city of Zhytomyr, west of Kyiv, "has showcased amazing resilience".

"We've dealt with shelling and no power supplies but are still able to produce and export vodka," says Mr Deinega, whose brand is called Dima's.

Since the start of the conflict he has been giving a share of the profits to Ukrainian charities.

"[Global] sales were rising consistently before the war, but have increased significantly with people looking for ways to support Ukraine via our charitable initiatives, as well as to support Ukrainian products as a whole," says Mr Deinega.

Katherine Vellinga grew up in Canada, the daughter of Ukrainian emigres. Back in 1997 she had decided to move to Ukraine, and she became increasingly interested in Ukrainian vodka. So much so, that she and her husband bought an old distillery and created vodka brand Zirkova in 2005.

Following Russia's invasion the distillery had to close. To maintain some production, Ms Vellinga decided to start using a second facility, this time more than 7,000km (4,000 miles) away in Ontario.

Supervised by the firm's master distiller, the company's Canadian brand is called Zirkova Unity, and all its profits go to Ukrainian charities. Production of Unity has continued in Canada despite the firm's main distillery, in the Ukrainian city of Zolotonosha, south of Kyiv, reopening last September.

Commenting on the move to Canada, Ms Vellinga says that "necessity was the mother of invention". She adds: "Our people in Ukraine encouraged us to keep fighting, to be resilient, to find a way to survive as that was the only way we could help Ukraine.

"We made a decision to survive and Ukrainians encouraged us to keep going."

But does all vodka taste the same? "Absolutely not!" says Tony Abou Ganim, a US-based vodka expert.

"All you need to do is line up six vodkas, made from different raw materials, and coming from different parts of the world, to very quickly realise that all vodkas are not the same!"

More from the BBC's series taking an international perspective on trade.

In Poland, Russia and Ukraine, the heart of the so-called "vodka belt", the spirit is traditionally drunk neat.

And although the origin of the drink is hotly debated, Poland certainly has the strictest legal rules that govern vodka's production. Polish vodka can only be made from wheat, rye, oats, potatoes or triticale (a hybrid of wheat and rye), water and yeast.

This contrasts with vodkas from around the world that can use maize, rice, sugar, grape juice or even milk, plus any number of other ingredients or additives.

"Vodka is not a flavourless drink," says Mariusz Dampc of the Polish Vodka Museum in Warsaw. "That is a very Western view," he adds. "Polish vodka is all about the soil, the water, the climate and the human element: the terroir."

Ms Vellinga adds that many "new world vodkas" - which she defines as those made outside of the drink's historic heartland shouldn't use the name.

"You can taste the difference between true vodka made out of grain or potato, and poor substitutes that use cheap ingredients such as corn, sugar beet, rice and sorghum," she says. "Newer vodka brands adhere to this modern mistaken notion that vodka should be utterly tasteless and neutral, which is far from the truth.

"The subtle but important complexity and character of the world's greatest vodkas prove it."