Tetya Kapa, a Napa Valley vodka from Ukrainian-born \u201cDancing with the Stars\u201d veteran Maksim Chmerkovskiy, debuts in New York this week at hotspots including Elsie Rooftop, Fresco by Scotto, and Avra.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The vodka is named for Chmerkovskiy\u2019s favorite relative, Kapa. Tetya is Ukrainian for aunt.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe taught me how to drink and not get drunk at the ripe age of 10 or 11 years old,\u201d Chmerkovskiy said. \u201cWe grew up with that culture, constant celebrations, mournings, graduations, any kind of gathering was celebrated with shots of vodka, for health. I grew up in that culture. I didn\u2019t see a glass of wine until my 20s.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tetya Kapa is a Napa Valley vodka from \u201cDancing with the Stars\u201d veteran Maksim Chmerkovskiy. Braden Tavelli<\/p>\n
The spirit will be available throughout the tri-state area, including Brooklyn \u2014 where Chmerkovskiy landed at age 14 with his family in 1994.<\/p>\n
It will be distributed by\u00a0 \u201cDozortsev & Sons,\u201d owned by fellow Ukrainian Arty Dozortsev.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chmerkovskiy got his start as a teenage dancer in Brighton Beach\u2019s famed restaurants, like Ukraina, that offered \u201cdinner and a show\u201d to homesick ex-Soviet immigrants. He\u2019d get $20 to $25 a show to perform with his partner, who would come to the restaurants after studying at a local yeshiva.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat woke me up. I didn\u2019t\u00a0 have to deliver newspapers, I could do something else,\u201d said Chmerkovskiy, who has been a dancer and an entrepreneur ever since.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After performing on \u201cDWTS\u201d for 17 years, he left the show in 2014. <\/p>\n
Chmerkovskiy co-founded the vodka brand with Arthur Hartunian, founder of Napa Valley Distillery, and Ian Devereux White in 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The spirit will be available throughout the tri-state area. Chmerkovskiy and co-founder Ian Devereux White. Tetya Kapa<\/p>\n
Made without corn or sugar, using Sauvignon Blanc grapes, Tetya Kapa vodka took off with chef-led restaurants in Napa, including La Toque and Angele Restaurant & Bar.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very excited to return and introduce the product to New York,\u201d Chmerkovskiy told Side Dish. \u201cHow we celebrate revolves around shots of vodka. This one we don\u2019t have to sell, all people have to do is taste it, as it is very much a handmade product that you can sip, like a high end Mezcal, which is why a lot of the restaurants love it.\u201d<\/p>\n
A portion of the sales will also go to charities supporting Ukraine, including Baranova27, a charity that Chmerkovskiy founded with his father to help rebuild houses in Western Ukraine.<\/p>\n
He lives in California with his wife, fellow \u201cDWTS\u201d alumnus Peta Murgatroyd, and their three kids \u2014 Milan, who turns one next month; Rio, who will be two this month, and Shai, who is eight.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chmerkovskiy was in Kiev judging a dance show when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Ukrainian-born Chmerkovskiy was in Kiev judging a dance show when Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.\u00a0 Benjo Arwas<\/p>\n
\u201cThe region was never very safe and while [Russia\u2019s invasion] shocked the world, it wasn\u2019t shocking to us or to anyone who knows history and the region. It was to be expected,\u201d Chmerkovskiy said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Being in Kiev when Russia invaded \u201cwas a tough experience,\u201d Chmerkovskiy said. \u201cI made a lot of friends there and I have a lot of empathy for people in Ukraine. It was hard to see.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDancers,\u201d he added, \u201cwe are a different type, if you will, and all of a sudden they were part of an army and went straight to the frontline. I\u2019m not used to our type talking about anything other than cha-chas and sambas.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some dancers turned into soldiers and have since lost some of their limbs. He also knows families on both sides of the border \u2014 and says there is still so much \u201cPTSD generationally in the region\u201d from conflicts launched by Moscow that go back to the Soviet Union\u2019s war in Afghanistan in the 1980s.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is unfortunate \u2013 very tragic. Ukraine is now dealing with and will have a whole generation who can\u2019t forget, who are missing limbs,\u201d Chmerkovskiy said. \u201cEveryone I know [in Ukraine] is part of this army. It\u2019s been very hard to watch and everyone I know has nothing to do with this lifestyle but had to pick up a weapon and be on the frontline. It\u2019s crazy. There is so much trauma.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tetya Kapa, a Napa Valley vodka from Ukrainian-born \u201cDancing with the Stars\u201d veteran Maksim Chmerkovskiy, debuts in New…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":158440,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7654],"tags":[51,67046,77,2000,299,13842,67047,67048,657,67049],"class_list":{"0":"post-158439","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ukraine","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-dancing-with-the-stars","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-eu","12":"tag-europe","13":"tag-food-drink","14":"tag-maksim-chmerkovskiy","15":"tag-side-dish","16":"tag-ukraine","17":"tag-vodka"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114627069045106250","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158439\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}