Several months ago, not long after Russia Invaded its neighbour Ukraine, we joined the Brew for Ukraine project with the aim of brewing a collaborative beer with Pravda Brewery in Lviv to raise funds for the relief efforts.
Yuriy Zastavny of the Pravda brewery appeared on the BBC national news and asked brewers worldwide to brew their beer to sell and donate the profits as they were not allowed to brew and were instead filling their empty bottles with petrol to make Molotov cocktails. We knew this was practical help that we could offer so we set about adjusting one of their recipes to package in cask.
The beer was called “Putin Huylo” from a Ukrainian football chant that has been used in Ukraine since Russia took control of Crimea in 2014, it roughly translates as “Putin is a D**khead” and we used their artwork as the basis for a pump clip. We launched the beer at the Old Crown Inn in April and brewed it twice over the following couple of months, asking each pub that sold the beer to collect donations from their customers to add to the donation pot, on top of which we donated all profits we made from the sale of the beer.
We would like to mention the following pubs and events that all took the beer and went out of their way to twist drinkers’ arms to donate the change, along with several private individuals who bought a cask for home use:
The George & Dragon, Harrington
The Old Crown, Hesket Newmarket
The Old Vicarage Brewery, Walton
Timmy’s Bar & Kitchen, Carlisle
We have finally collected all the donations and all the money, along with our profits, has been paid to the Disasters Emergency Committee Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal. The total raised was £2,169.40 and we would like to whole-heartedly thank all those pubs who took and sold the beer as well as all of you who donated cash, no matter how big or small the amount. It will all help make a difference to lives that need help rebuilding and will continue to need help for many years to come.
If you would like to donate further, please follow this link… https://www.dec.org.uk/appeal/ukraine-humanitarian-appeal
