Word: vodka
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...Vodka, like liquid kudzu, just seems to grow and grow, especially in the U.S., where sales have expanded 35% since 2002. Russians still account for nearly half of the 1.22 billion gal. (4.6 billion liters) consumed annually, but the rest of the world is catching up fast, and global growth prospects are huge, especially for so-called premium vodkas. "There was no way that an ambitious company like Pernod Ricard could pass up an opportunity to acquire Absolut, even though it has cost them dear," says senior drinks company analyst Jeremy Cunnington of Euromonitor International...
Pernod Ricard paid top dollar for Absolut because it believes its marketing muscle can increase sales from last year's 10.7 million cases. But the economics of producing vodka surely played a part in its calculations. Whisky and brandy spend years maturing in wooden casks before they can be sold, tying up cash in inventory, but vodka is practically an instant money machine. The chemistry is simple: ferment grain or potatoes or even grapes to make alcohol, then concentrate it by distillation. Filter the resulting colorless, odorless spirit, possibly give it a fruit flavor, push out the publicity boat with...
That's why Bacardi paid $2.2 billion in 2004 for Grey Goose, then a record for a single label, and why distillers are releasing new vodkas each week. Leading the field is Smirnoff, owned by Britain's Diageo, which dropped out of the Absolut bidding to buy a 50% stake in the Dutch premium vodka Ketel One for $900 million...
Pernod Ricard's task now is to goose Absolut sales. The vodka has come a long way since production began in 1879 in the southern Swedish town of Ahus. It remained a local brand for a century until 1979, when Russia invaded Afghanistan. Many countries shunned Russian products, including vodka. Absolut saw its chance to go international, and helped by what has become a memorable advertising campaign, it has never looked back...
...Caviar Eben Freeman's Cape Codder, created for wd-50 in New York City, turns vodka and cranberry juice into edible pearls