Smirnoff

Smirnoff is a brand of vodka now owned and produced by British
drinks company Diageo. Products under the Smirnoff brand,
which began with a vodka distillery founded in Moscow by Piotr
Arsenieyevich Smirnov, are now distributed in 130 countries
and includes flavored vodka and malt beverages. In March 2006
Diageo North America claimed Smirnoff vodka to be the best
selling distilled spirit brand in the world[1].Piotr Smirnov
first founded his vodka distillery in Moscow in
the 1860s, under the trading name of PA Smirnoff. He died in
1910 and was succeeded by Vladimir Smirnov. The company flour
ished and produced more than 4 million cases of vodka per year.

During the October Revolution, the distillery was confiscated
and the family had to flee. Vladimir Smirnov re-established
the factory in 1920 in Istanbul. Four years later he moved to
Lwow (formerly Poland, now Lviv, Ukraine) and started to sell
the vodka under the contemporary French spelling of the name,
"Smirnoff". The new product was a success and by the end of
1930 it was exported to most European countries. An additional
distillery was founded in Paris in 1925.

In the 1930s Vladimir met Rudolph Kunett, a Russian who had
emigrated to America in 1920. The Kunett family had been a
supplier of spirits to Smirnoff in Moscow before the
Revolution. In 1933 Vladimir sold Kunett the right to begin
producing Smirnoff vodka in North America. However, the
business in America was not as successful as Kunett had hoped.
In 1938 Kunett couldn't afford to pay for the necessary sales
licenses, and contacted John Martin, president of Heublein,
who agreed to buy the rights to Smirnoff.