The history of Smirnoff Vodka began in 1910 when Vladimir Smirnov took over the
company after the death of his father Pyotr Smirnov. During the October
Revolution, the distillery was confiscated and the family had to flee to
Constantinople, where Vladimir set up a new distillery.Four years later the
family moved to Lviv; in 1925 the spelling of the name was changed to Smirnoff
and by the end of the 1930s Smirnoff was exported to most European countries. In
1934, Vladimir Smirnov sold the company to Rudolph Kunett, who moved the company
headquarters to the USA.



Smirnoff is now owned by Diageo and is one of the world's best-selling vodkas.
Smirnoff was also the first distillery in the world to use charcoal for
filtering.