Smirnoff is the world’s largest vodka brand, distributed in well over 120 countries and produced in the UK, the US, India and the Philippines, plus several other locations. Pyotr Smirnov founded the PA Smirnoff (the French spelling) vodka distillery in Moscow in 1864. The company was producing four million cases per year when the vodka industry was nationalized by the Tsar in 1904, forcing Pyotr’s son Vladimir to sell the company. Then in 1917 the Russian Revolution forced the Smirnov family to flee the country.