A NEW (BUT VERY OLD) SPIRIT

In the late 1930s, a man named John Martin was the president of Heublein Inc., best known for A1 Steak Sauce. Martin decided to take a chance on a product Americans hadn’t yet tried, called vodka. He purchased the recipe and rights for Smirnoff Vodka, (once known as the vodka of choice for the czars, before the Bolshevik Revolution saw Smirnoff heir Vladimir Smirnov flee the country with his family’s secret recipe). Nothing Martin did could convince people to try this strange clear spirit. He even tried to market it as “white whiskey,” but there were no takers. It is said his gamble nearly sent the company into bankruptcy.