Absolut is a brand of vodka distilled in Åhus, Sweden, from winter wheat. As of 2015, it is the second-best-selling vodka in the world (behind Smirnoff), with sales of just over 11 million cases annually. Absolut makes dozens of different bottlings, including flavored vodkas like Absolut Citron, which, according to legend, was the base spirit in Cheryl Cook’s influential recipe for the Cosmopolitan, as well as the unflavored Absolut Elyx, distilled in a copper still from wheat grown on a single estate. See Cosmopolitan.
Absolut traces its history to Lars Olsson Smith, a successful vodka merchant in Sweden who launched his own brand, Absolut Rent Bränvin (“absolutely pure vodka” in Swedish), in 1879. The original Absolut Rent Bränvin disappeared in the early twentieth century, but Swedish spirits producer V&S Group sought to revive the name in the mid-1970s. The modern incarnation of Absolut launched in 1979 as one of the first vodka brands focused on purity and smoothness. It was (and still is) packaged in a distinctive bottle modeled after an eighteenth-century apothecary bottle. Absolut found much early success thanks to an iconic series of advertisements featuring a photo of the bottle with a simple slogan using “Absolut” as a pun (the first read “Absolut Perfection”). The company has since run thousands of variations of the ad, among them designs created by famed artists including Andy Warhol and Keith Haring.
The brand has partnered with several different major spirits companies for distribution, including Seagram from 1994 to 2001 and Fortune Brands from 2001 to 2008. In 2008, V&S Group was purchased by Pernod-Ricard, and Absolut is today the top-selling brand in that company’s portfolio. See Pernod-Ricard.
See also vodka.
Absolut. “The Story of Absolut.” http://www.absolut.com/us/News/Drinks/The-Story-of-Absolut/ (accessed January 8, 2021).
By: Jason Horn