Company that makes Russian vodka moves to Miami – WSVN 7News | Miami News, Weather, Sports

MIAMI (WSVN) – A company that produces a Russian-made vodka is switching to South Florida after an entrepreneur changed up his business plan due to the crisis in Ukraine.

“Fun project, little crazy, but we’re gonna give it a great shot,” said Dave Katz.

Katz went back to the drawing board.

“I think I’m still in shock that there’s this invasion, and this war to be– wow, this is affecting me and my little family, my small company,” said Katz.

He imported the first batch of Zyr vodka nearly 20 years ago and now is reinventing his award-winning product. This time, it will be made in Miami.

“Banning Russian vodka, it’s purely symbolic,” said Katz. “The only people that will feel it, of course, the product’s been paid for a long time ago by me, so it’s a small company, it’s the importer, it’s the employees.”

The sanctions announced earlier this month by the president hit Katz’s small business hard.

“Probably 1,500 of 5,000 or 6,000 accounts in a day. It was a bad day. It’s been a tough couple of weeks,” said Katz.

A tough couple of weeks and a lot of hard work ahead. The goal is to recreate Zyr with American wheat and rye, and then distill it in South Florida.

“The synergy and the relationships is gonna be huge,” said Fernando Plata, co-founder of Big Cypress Distillery in Southwest Miami-Dade, “and creating that destination for Miami, that expansion will bring in the first year, about 20 new jobs.”

“I’d like to see it as a destination,” said Peter England, of the Economic Development Council of Miami-Dade. “I think that it could very well somewhere, in this facility, be a destination onto itself.”

A destination for sunshine and spirits, including Miami’s own vodka.

“This is a fun project. A lot of work, but, you know, we’re excited about it,” said Katz.

The plan is to have vats filled up by the summer in Southwest Miami-Dade and have that Miami-made vodka on the shelves by next year.

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