Before an American vodka producer from Austin, Texas (Tito's) became the most popular brand of vodka in the world, Smirnoff held that title without challengers. And it had reigned for many decades previous.
Smirnoff vodka was first produced in Moscow, Russia, by Pyotr Arsenievich Smirnov (1831–1898). Today it's distributed in 130 countries, and manufactured in many of those locations. In the United States, Smirnoff is produced in Illinois.
Pyotr's product was first created in 1864, under the brand name PA Smirnov. It was distilled with a unique charcoal filtration technique that Smirnov pioneered in the 1870s. By 1886—after being the first to use newspaper advertising—it became the bestselling vodka brand in Moscow. It also was reputed to be the favorite of Russian royalty.
When PA Smirnov died in 1898, his son Vladimir took over the family business and succeeded in expanding their burgeoning vodka empire. By the turn of the century, Smirnov was producing more than 4 million cases per year.
Despite their great initial success, the early 1900s were not kind to the Smirnovs. In 1904, the Tsar nationalized the production and sale of vodka and Vladimir was forced to sell his distillery and abandon his brand. By 1917, as the Russian Revolution broke out, Smirnov and his family were forced to flee the country. By 1920, Vladimir managed to set up a new factory in Istanbul, Turkey, and then, four years later, moved to Ukraine where he renamed the brand "Smirnoff." For the next decade, the vodka sold fairly well, but never attained the level of success it had in Moscow before the revolution.
In the 1930s, Vladimir met Rudolph Kunett, a successful Russian businessman whose family had actually supplied the Smirnovs grain in Moscow years before. Vladimir eventually sold the North American rights to his brand to Kunett, who then established the first distillery in North America, located in Bethel, Connecticut.
Sales after Prohibition could never quite keep up with the demands of the company, and, by 1939, Kunett sold his rights to John Martin, the president of Heublein, a successful liquor importer/exporter. Heublein's board of directors thought Martin was insane for buying the rights to produce vodka. Americans at the time mostly drank whiskey and were unfamiliar with what this foreign spirit was. In a stroke of genius, Martin directed his company to market their vodka as a "white whiskey" that had the benefits of having "no taste, no smell." Sales exploded virtually overnight.
Heublein was acquired in 1982 by RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company for $1.4 billion. RJR then became RJR Nabisco, which sold the liquor division to Grand Metropolitan in 1987. Ten years later, Grand Metropolitan merged with Guinness to form the global giant that is Diageo.
Ever since PA Smirnov opened his distillery in Moscow, vodka has been one of the most-consumed spirits on the planet. Today, the vodka segment of the alcohol market remains a multi-billion-dollar industry and—despite battling with giants like Tito's and Absolut—Smirnoff remains one of the most popular and most recognizable brands in the world.