We all know the bottle, but few know the history. Saucey has been working with Pernod Ricard for a few months now in bringing new experiences to Absolut drinkers everywhere. In working together we got to sit down with their Innovation Team from Sweden, and one of their top mixologists to learn everything about this iconic brand.
Absolut’s heritage begins in 1879 with the young entrepreneur Lars Olsson Smith who used fractional distillation, also known as continuous distillation to create Absolut Pure Vodka. —– A portrait of L.O. Smith is on every bottle of Absolut.
Every single bottle of Absolut in the world is distilled and bottled in the small town of Ahus southern Sweden, the birth place of L.O. Smith. The brand uses a one-source method for the creation of vodka, sourcing all wheat and water from surrounding farms and wells in Ahus. So much vodka is produced in this tiny town that wheat actually has to be driven to the factory in shipments every 2 hours, 24 hours a day. And this isn’t just any wheat, it’s called winter wheat, which is grown under snow, sewn in the fall and harvested the following August, contributing greatly to the vodka’s character.
Perhaps the most well known characteristic of this historic brand is its bottle. But what you probably didn’t know is that every bottle is made near the distillery at the Limmared factory, established in 1741 as a factory that originally produced medicinal bottles. It was this very design that influenced what is now today the signature Absolut bottle, and has been iconized by the likes of Andy Warhol, Rolling Stone and so many others.
So, all that is to say, the next time you’re drinking Absolut, you can educate all your Grey Goose sipping friends on what real history looks like 😉
Cheers,
The Saucey Team
