Smirnoff
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| Type | Vodka |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Diageo |
| Country of origin | Russia |
| Introduced | ca. 1860s |
| Alcohol by volume | 35% – 50% |
| Proof (US) | 70 – 100 |
| Related products | List of vodkas |
Smirnoff is a brand of vodka owned and produced by the British company Diageo. The Smirnoff brand began with a vodka distillery founded in Moscow by Pyotr Arsenievich Smirnov (1831–1898). It is now distributed in 130 countries. It is produced in several countries including India, Ireland, Honduras, Albania, Mongolia, Latvia, the Philippines, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States. Smirnoff products include vodka, flavoured vodka, and malt beverages. In March 2006, Diageo North America claimed that Smirnoff vodka was the best-selling distilled spirit brand in the world.
The vodka is made using a traditional charcoal filtration method developed by P.A SMIRNOFF. Recipe NO.21 was created by P.A.'s son Vladimir after escaping Russia and the Bolshevik revolution.
Pyotr Smirnov founded his vodka distillery in Moscow in 1864 under the trading name of PA Smirnoff, pioneering charcoal filtration in the 1870s, and becoming the first to utilize newspaper ads along with charitable contributions to the clergy to stifle anti-vodka sermons, capturing two-thirds of the Moscow market by 1886. His brand was reportedly a Tsar favorite. When Pyotr died, he was succeeded by his third son Vladimir Smirnov (1875–1939). The company flourished and produced more than 4 million cases of vodka per year.
In 1904, the Tsar nationalized the Russian vodka industry and Vladimir Smirnov was forced to sell his factory and brand. During the October Revolution of 1917, the Smirnov family had to flee the country. Vladimir Smirnov re-established a factory in 1920 in Constantinople (present day Istanbul). Four years later he moved to Lwów (formerly Poland, now Lviv, Ukraine) and started to sell the vodka under the contemporary French spelling of the name, "Smirnoff". The new product sold marginally well but not nearly as it had in Russia prior to 1904. An additional distillery was founded in Paris in 1925; however the company was a shadow of its former self.
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