10 Important Bottles of Vodka [Timeline]

Though vodka’s European historical past dates again centuries, the spirit didn’t hit the U.S. market till after Prohibition. Then, it was solely a matter of many years earlier than it grew to become the best-selling liquor within the nation. It might appear unusual for a spirit that’s historically odorless and flavorless to expertise such a speedy ascent, however vodka’s impartial character proved to be certainly one of its largest strengths. Its sheer versatility allowed it to be embraced by cocktail makers and drinkers, giving rise to ubiquitous drinks just like the Moscow Mule, Vodka Martini, and the Cosmopolitan.

By the Nineteen Nineties, many manufacturers began to provide vodka the posh therapy, making the case for the spirit as each a standing image and a sipping liquor with refined nuances in taste and texture. For a second, it appeared that the class had peaked, however in actuality, the craft vodka motion had simply begun. Since then, numerous manufacturers have emerged, using myriad manufacturing methods and base elements to showcase how dynamic vodka could be.

To catalog the spirit’s fashionable historical past, we put collectively the next timeline of vodka milestones since its post-Prohibition stateside debut, with a particular bottle tied to every occasion. From American vodkas in Russian clothes to fashionable marvels distilled from cow’s milk, listed below are 10 important bottles of vodka that spotlight the class’s evolution.

1934: Business Vodka Manufacturing Begins Stateside
Bottle: Smirnoff Vodka

Though the spirit was being loved in sure circles within the U.S. — particularly European immigrant communities — earlier than 1934, the 12 months marked the debut of the primary commercially produced vodka model within the States: Smirnoff. The model’s historical past really dates again to 1864 when Pyotr Arsenyevitch Smirnov established the Smirnov distillery in Moscow the place it loved appreciable success for many years. However in 1917, the federal government confiscated the distillery within the midst of the Russian Revolution.

After fleeing Russia, Pyotr’s son Vladimir re-established the model with a westernized title, “Smirnoff,” in Paris. In 1933, he offered the North American gross sales and manufacturing rights to New York-based Russian businessman Rudolph Kunett. He constructed a distillery in Bethel, Conn., the next 12 months, and offered the model rights to John Martin, president of American alcohol firm Heublein, in 1939. Below Martin’s management, the model exploded, igniting America’s long-standing love affair with vodka, and serving to Smirnoff change into the top-selling spirits model within the U.S. by the mid-’70s.

1974: The First Imported Vodka Hits the U.S. Market
Bottle: Stolichnaya Vodka

Regardless of the spirit’s European origins, it wasn’t till the ‘70s that U.S. drinkers might choose up a bottle of imported vodka at their native liquor shops. On the time, the spirit’s recognition was hovering, and PepsiCo struck a cope with the Russian authorities to commerce the exportation and Western advertising and marketing rights of a number of Soviet alcohol manufacturers — together with Stolichnaya — for the importation of Pepsi’s cola focus and advertising and marketing of the soda in Russia.

Not solely did the settlement make Pepsi the primary American shopper good to be manufactured, marketed, and offered in Russia, however it made Stolichnaya the primary vodka model to be imported to the U.S. The model touted its homeland in its stateside advertising and marketing from the get-go, with one 1974 advert stating, “Most American vodkas appear Russian. Stolichnaya is completely different. It’s Russian.” After the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, manufacturing of Stolichnaya grew to become break up between firms in Russia and Latvia, with the latter rebranding its flagship vodka beneath the title “Stoli” in 2022.

1980: The Legendary ‘Absolut Perfection’ Advert Marketing campaign Launches
Bottle: Absolut Vodka

In 1979 — 100 years after its inception — Sweden’s Absolut launched its now-world-famous line of premium vodka globally. Nonetheless, it initially struggled to seize an viewers within the U.S., so the model commissioned American promoting company TDWA to create a marketing campaign designed to persuade American shoppers that Absolut was the superior vodka in the marketplace. In 1980, the “Absolut Perfection” marketing campaign launched with a collection of print advertisements showcasing the vodka’s distinctive Swedish apothecary-bottle-inspired packaging.

The advertisements ranged from collaborations with notable artists like Andy Warhol and Keith Haring to depictions of the bottle superimposed over numerous landscapes. The focus was all the time the Absolut bottle form, which was accompanied by a two-word tagline consisting of “Absolut” and an ever-changing second phrase. The marketing campaign lasted for 25 years and helped the model’s gross sales explode from 10,000 circumstances in 1980 to 4.5 million by 2000. Through the years, Absolut has additionally launched numerous flavored vodkas and one-off expressions which have attracted bottle collectors from all around the world.

1983: Vodka Embraces the Pot Nonetheless
Bottle: Ketel One Vodka

The Netherlands’ Nolet household has been within the distilled spirits enterprise since 1691, and after completely producing genever for almost 300 years, the household made its first foray into the vodka trade within the early Eighties. On the time, Carolus Nolet had lately taken the reins of the household enterprise and got down to make a high-quality vodka after noticing the booming cocktail tradition taking form within the U.S. As an alternative of strictly utilizing column stills — the widely most well-liked stills for vodka manufacturing — Carolus determined to make use of a mix of pot and column nonetheless distillation to craft his vodka, seemingly impressed by his household’s historical past of constructing genever with pot stills. The unconventional course of is claimed to provide the spirit a distinctly smoother profile than its rivals. After perfecting his vodka recipe, Carolus Nolet named the brand new spirit after Distilleerketel #1, the household distillery’s oldest coal-fired copper pot nonetheless, which is proudly featured on the vodka’s label. In 1992, the Ketel One model debuted within the U.S., and several other producers, equivalent to Belvedere, Tito’s, and Hangar 1, have since adopted swimsuit by embracing pot nonetheless distillation.

1993: Chopin Launches the World’s First ‘Tremendous Premium’ Vodka
Bottle: Chopin Potato Vodka

Prime quality vodkas existed earlier than Chopin got here round, however not one of the model’s predecessors have been technically “tremendous premium.” In keeping with the Distilled Spirits Council of the US, for a vodka to qualify as such, it should retail between $30 and $45. However the thought of luxurious goes effectively past value. “Tremendous premium” vodkas scream “excessive finish” with their storytelling, advertising and marketing, packaging, and uncompromising pursuit of making an outstanding product.

In 1993, Poland’s Tadeusz “Tad” Dorda noticed a niche within the international marketplace for vodka of this caliber, so he bought a distillery and based Chopin Vodka. Though the model produces each rye and wheat vodkas, its main focus is potato vodka and highlighting the crop’s Polish terroir. For Dorda, vodka has all the time been a sipping spirit — not only a cocktail element or shooter — and Chopin paved the best way for a slew of others within the “tremendous premium” area within the following years.

1997: An All-American Vodka Takes the Trade by Storm
Bottle: Tito’s Handmade Vodka

Up till 1997, nearly each vodka model within the U.S. — whether or not it was produced domestically or not — capitalized on European exoticism as a promoting level. That each one modified after the introduction of Tito’s Handmade Vodka. The model’s founder, Bert “Tito” Beveridge II, seen there was a niche between mass-produced discount vodkas and luxurious manufacturers, so he got down to create a vodka that was high-quality, however inexpensive and modest in picture. With no prior trade expertise, Beveridge taught himself learn how to distill vodka and purchased the permits to ascertain the first authorized distillery in Texas.

Two years later, Austin’s Mockingbird Distillery offered its first case of Tito’s Handmade Vodka: a yellow-corn-based, copper-pot-distilled vodka packaged in an unassuming brown-labeled bottle with a screw cap. Early on, Beveridge was certainly distilling his vodka by hand in a single copper pot nonetheless, however after the corporate’s enlargement within the early 2000s, the model’s “handmade” declare grew to become the topic of skepticism within the trade — a lot in order that a number of lawsuits have been filed in opposition to Tito’s dad or mum firm Fifth Technology for making the vodka “through a extremely mechanized course of that’s devoid of human arms.” All circumstances have been ultimately settled or dismissed, however given the model’s huge quantity output, it’s broadly believed that the accusations are true and that Tito’s seemingly re-distills sourced impartial grain spirit to make its vodka.

Nonetheless, since its launch, the model has change into one of many largest fashionable success tales within the spirits enterprise, ultimately dethroning Smirnoff as America’s best-selling vodka model in 2020. Gross sales apart, Tito’s proved to distillers that folks have been able to embrace all-American vodka, and thus paved the best way for others across the nation to begin manufacturers of their very own.

1997: French Excellence Enters the Chat
Bottle: Gray Goose Vodka

In what was primarily an entire 180 from the grassroots Tito’s story, 1997 additionally noticed the launch of the primary French “tremendous premium” vodka model, created by the late American drinks enterprise mogul Sidney Frank. After making a considerable fortune as a spirits importer, he hatched a plan to begin a luxurious vodka model. Frank wished it to be French — not as a result of the nation had a historical past of constructing world-class vodka, however due to France’s fame concerning delicacies and wine.

Earlier than he had a product, distillery, or perhaps a label design, Frank determined that the model’s title could be “Gray Goose,” after which requested his pal and Cognac-based cellar grasp François Thibault to craft a high-quality vodka recipe. And so he did, utilizing mushy winter wheat from Picardy and pure spring water from Cognac. Frank had the liquid packaged in tall, elegant frosted glass bottles and despatched them out to retailers in picket crates. Despite the fact that Gray Goose initially retailed for $30 per bottle — a sky-high value for a vodka on the time — the model was a direct success. Seven years after its launch, Frank offered Gray Goose to Bacardi for $2 billion.

2012: A ‘Pure Milk’ Vodka Hits the Market
Bottle: Black Cow Vodka

By the flip of the century, drinkers had entry to vodkas of various levels of high quality, value, and distillation strategies. The brand new millennium noticed the class begin to embrace experimental base elements. And maybe essentially the most noteworthy model to emerge throughout this period was England’s Black Cow Vodka. Based in 2012 by fifth-generation dairy farmer Jason Barber and artist Paul Archard, the model produces vodka made fully from milk.

Because the founders defined in an interview with drinks weblog “Inside The Cask,” to make Black Cow Vodka, they take milk from the cows on Barber’s farm and separate it. The curds are used to make the farm’s cheddar and the whey is fermented “right into a particular milk beer.” Then, the liquid is distilled and triple-filtered to change into a easy, velvety vodka. The spirit has gained quite a few awards since its inception, however extra importantly, it helped broaden the world’s notion of what’s doable in vodka manufacturing.

2023: Chopin Releases Excessive-Age-Assertion Vodka
Bottle: Chopin Classic Vault 30 12 months

Even with a number of base elements, water sources, and manufacturing strategies to select from, vodka has historically been a impartial spirit by design. In contrast to different spirits equivalent to whiskey, rum, brandy, and tequila, oak barrel ageing is remarkable within the vodka area. Producers do, nevertheless, usually put their vodkas by way of a resting interval after distillation and filtration throughout which the spirit mellows and develops a smoother profile. This usually takes place in stainless-steel or plastic tanks over a interval starting from 24 hours to a number of weeks, however Chopin pushed vodka ageing to the following degree with the 2023 launch of Chopin Classic Vault.

To honor the model’s thirtieth anniversary, it stuffed 1,000 hand-cut crystal decanters with potato vodka pulled from a stainless-steel tank that had been mendacity dormant in Chopin’s distillery since its first distillation run in 1993. The discharge not solely gave clients the chance to style the very first batch of Chopin, however it marked the industrial launch of the oldest aged vodka to this point.

2024: Patrón Founders Launch a 100% Agave Vodka
Bottle: Weber Ranch 1902 Vodka

In 2023, a bunch of former Patrón executives, together with model co-founder John Paul DeJoria, launched Spherical 2 Spirits, a Texas-based firm centered on creating “modern, disruptive, and iconic spirits manufacturers.” A 12 months later, Spherical 2 unveiled Weber Ranch 1902 Vodka. This wasn’t the primary time an agave-based vodka hit the market, however the model launch proved to be an surprising pivot for a bunch of tequila trade vets.

To make the vodka, the model harvests and distills blue agave in Jalisco earlier than transporting the liquid to the Weber Ranch Distillery in Texas. The workforce then redistills the spirit in each column and copper pot stills, filters it, and proofs it all the way down to 40 % ABV. The completed product doesn’t style like a slapdash hybrid spirit, however slightly hits a harmonious grey space between tequila and vodka. “Weber Ranch Vodka is unmistakably a vodka, however as a result of we’re utilizing agave, we’re in a position to develop refined, easy taste notes of tropical fruit and citrus that make this spirit not solely higher for traditional vodka cocktails, however it works equally effectively in conventional agave-based drinks like a Ranch Water or Paloma,” Weber Ranch grasp distiller Antonio Rodriguez mentioned in a press launch. “The large versatility is the true magic of this spirit.”

*Picture retrieved from C Watts – Anchorage Alaska Museum Russia Exhibit – Stolichnaya vodka through Wikipedia