Customer Reviews

The King of Vodka: The Story of Pyotr Smirnov and the Upheaval of an Empire

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King of Vodka is quite extraordinary. I didn't know what to expect, but I was gripped from the start by this amazing story behind the making of the Smirnov Vodka brand. Every modern marketing pro should read this. I love history, thrillers and the stories of building great global brands. This remarkable tale gives you all three.
Sometimes it reads like a historical thriller and the depth and detail of research delivers a very rewarding tale of guts and smart. It all comes together to provide a window into Russia as dramatic change takes place across this vast country. It's not political per se, it's very personal and you feel you're right there with Smirnov as he makes his journey from serf to a corporate giant.
I can only wonder why it never became a movie.

More and more good journalists are turning to authoring books as our news businesses convulse. They have a long tradition of writing a book, now and then. Nowadays, there is more than a tinge of survivalism in the air. I should say right right now that you need not care anything about vodka to enjoy this book. If you like history, this book is for you. If you are a student of Russian history, so much the better.

Recently, we had another spirit refugee, as it were, a book on one from the Cuban communist paradise, Bacardi. Instead of the Bacardi Bat we have the Smirinoff Eagle. Now, Ms. Himelstein catches a ride on the old Russian Eagle (nearly eaten by the Soviet Bear) that just barely flew the "coup" -- alright I will stop with the lousy puns already.

Ms. Himelstein is an able writer. One of the first things I noticed, which I rarely see in books from even the better journalists, are her superscripts indicating notes from sources she places at the end of the text. That is a good sign. It shows her care. Her story begins, as many do, with an ending. Here she gives us the funeral of the patriarch, or at least, the son of the founder, (but they in fact do it together) Pytor Smiranov. She gets to the spelling change much later, in case you are wondering.

Ms. Himelstein teases out much that is interesting along the way. This is not so much biography as history, though the author is neither by trade. I appreciate even the little things I learn, such as the word "vodka" derives from "voda", water. As with eau de vie, or aquavit, this clear spirit is named the water of life. Putrid water, cholera and such clarify the importance of this anti-bacterial agent.

Everybody associates vodka with Russia. The Soviets sought to replace Smirnov with "Stoly" some few decades ago. The Soviet Air Force was called, in inner circles, "The Flying Restaraunt " because they requisitioned pure alcohol as a deicing fluid. Yippee! Even British agent Bond used Smirnoff in twenty two films, not gin. But back to our book at hand.

The position of vodka in political economics of old Russia dwarfs that of say, rum in Cuba, or even wine in France. Such a position invites corruption on a Siberian scale. If you thought the British had it coming at the Boston Tea Party, imagine the riots fueled by a vodka revolt.

I learned that flavored vodka is not new. Smirnov had popular lines including ashberry, raspberry, and the more traditional anise. The old vodkas were not so potent as now. Alcoholism aside, it was not just the potency, but the impurities that killed. Substances such as analine and sulphuric acid were poison. Smirnov had these problems to be sure, but they were notable for relative purity, using charcoal filtration.

Ms. Himelstein traces the line of survivorship through the revolution, into the modern spelling of Smirnoff. She gives us good history of the social, religious, governmental sides of building a business. She brings alive a good narrative perspective hard to find in most history books.

I enjoyed most of this book and wasn't bothered by fictionalization of the sections. After all, at a certain point it's hard to separate truth from fiction in many historical accounts. We have data and the historian must interpret it.

What I liked about the book was the opportunity to see Russia in the Tsarist days, when culture and business flourished. The story of Pyotr's rise from serfdom to successful business owner was fascinating precisely because it took place in the Russian context. Pyotr had to gain access to the court. He used an ingenious tactic at once point, inviting needy men (we would call them homeless) to visit taverns and ask for Smirnov's vodka. He paid them for the drinks and their time. It was an early form of word of mouth marketing.

I also liked the story of Pyotr's family with his two wives. Apparently his second wife was just 16 - a full 27 years younger than he was!

The main problem for me was the mass of details that we receive about every point. I would rather have seen a stronger narrative flow.

The story of the Smirnov empire after the Revolution was very sad. We could see how the Revolution interrupted a trend that was already in place to liberalize the country while allowing a growing economy. The serfs had been freed. More freedoms were on the way.

Sadly, the Revolution brought new repression and created conditions of hardship that lasted a long time, some till today. I read this book right after reading Mountain of Crumbs, providing some sense of the changes in Russian life.

With conviction and aplomb, author Linda Himelstein offers readers The King of Vodka, a business history, biography, and captivating tale rolled into one. A former reporter and bureau chief for Business Week magazine, Himelstein sweeps the reader into nineteenth-century Russia and the world and life of Pyotr Smirnov. Born into serfdom in 1831, Smirnov rose to business and social glory through his own smarts and resourcefulness ultimately to build and lord over the heavyweight of all vodkas.

Himelstein's narrative captures the reader from the start. Here's a sampling: In her prologue about the scene at Smirnov's 1898 funeral, she writes, "As December 1898 arrived, a chill snuck up on Moscow like an invading army. Snow began to fall before daybreak and continued without interruption. Soon, a thick coat of white buried the city. Sledges, large wooden carriages that glided around town on metal runners, took the place of clumsier wheeled vehicles. Within a day, temperatures dropped another fifteen degrees, leaving Russia's then second-largest city in its more typical seasonal state: gray and frigid. ... The heavy wooden doors parted and the archdeacon from St. John the Baptist Church emerged, softly reciting prayers. A group carrying a coffin cover decorated with a wreath made of natural flowers fell into line after him. A choir came out then, singing the Holy God prayer, followed by a dozen workers... At last, a coffin emerged, draped in a sumptuous fabric made of golden brocade and raspberry velvet."

Throughout the book Himelstein offers up colorful evidence of Smirnov's enterprising marketing tactics. He rounded up job hunters, took them to his house, fed them, and presented his instructions: "Now I want you to go back to your neighborhoods, order meat soups, and demand Smirnov vodka everywhere you go." Refuse all substitutions, Smirnov told these early viral marketers and social networkers, and leave the pub in a huff.

Highly compelling is Himelstein's placing Smirnov in historical and cultural context. Himelstein describes in vivid language the rising wave of Russian capitalism in the 1860s and 1870s and the forces that threatened Smirnov's business: Tolstoy's anti-alcohol campaign, labor unrest, and, finally, the revolutionary fervor that ultimately resulted in the nationalization of the company.

Himelstein's eye-popping level of research, which included traveling to Russia and tapping into hundreds of historical sources, including a newspaper that confirmed the weather on the day of Smirnov's funeral, allowed her to write this narrative with authority and passion. It's a wonderful read for anyone interested in Russian history or great entrepreneurs of the past, or anyone who yearns for a tale of human initiative and turmoil. A toast to The King of Vodka!

Nineteenth-century Russia was full of both cataclysm and opportunity. As in the the United States, there were profound changes to the social and political structure. And, as in the United States, some of those who benefited from these changes became extremely wealthy.

One such man was Pyotr Smirnov. Born a serf, he took advantage of the opportunities provided by Alexander II's emancipation of the serfs and Russia's growing economy to create a vodka empire. Himelstein does a wonderful job of recreating the world that Smirnov grew up in and came to dominate, drawing on extensive research in Russian archives, memoirs, and other contemporary accounts of Smirnov and his times.

The author really immerses the reader in the culture of Russia at the time, allowing us to understand what kind of man Smirnov was. She doesn't end the book with her protagonist's death, instead following the unsuccessful reign of his sons and the eventual revival of his brand as US-based Smirnoff vodka. Her chief strengths are her comprehensive research and her faithfulness to her sources. For some, these may be weaknesses. This is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a novelistic telling of the story. There is very little dialogue, as most of the writing is simply a synthesis of the source material, which doesn't include any words spoken by Smirnov or any records of his thoughts.

It's an extremely informative biography, though, and one that's sure to appeal to those who enjoy reading about both Russian and business history-or those who just like vodka.

I really want to give this book 5 stars. A book called "The King of Vodka" just begs to be read, after all. The book starts off very well, trying to sound more like a novel and less like a collection of facts. This works fine for the opening chapter, since you need something to draw you in, but it never really meshes and you're left with a massively-researched historical account that keeps trying to throw in guesswork for no real reason at all.

To go into detail, there are large sections where the author goes from fact to supposition. Sections will be dedicated to guessing what Smirnov thought about a situation when there's no direct evidence, or presupposing what Smirnov was doing during a certain time, often on the basis of looking at what people in similar positions were historically doing during certain eras. This would be fine if this were the biography of any average Russian, but this man was not ordinary by any means. The author does dutifully insert footnotes or references to clearly state where and how she jumped from historical record to dramatic license, but it left me feeling like the author didn't think enough of what she had on hand to have the book stand on its own history- the amount of research at hand very clearly shows that this work would have stood better as a wholly factual account.

Whether you want to learn some Russian history, or get the inside story of the rise of vodka, or if you've just enjoyed Smirnov's products before and saw the name on the cover, I recommend this book. Just be aware that the author's tendency to take it from a historical document into a novel very much drags it down in parts. 5 stars for the amount of research, less one star for the guesswork.

With years of meticulous research and a consummate skill for weaving a story that spans from 1831, when Pyotr Arsenievitch Smirnov, born into serfdom, first drew breath, until the present day, with Smirnoff as the largest selling brand of spirits in the world, author Linda Himelstein has our undivided rapt attention. The last 100 pages especially, will require some time carved out of your life, as the book is almost impossible to put down in its final chapters. Those who appreciate biographies will love this book, as well as those intrigued by Russia's fascinating history.

The Smirnov family was large and industrious, with several members achieving their freedom from serfdom by ingenuity and hard labor, with Pyotr becoming the genius to lead the family into marketing his vodka into the coveted inner circle of the Imperial Court. Among the many changes Russia went through that the book describes, are the period of Great Reforms by Tsar Aleksander II which opened Russia up to a boom of commerce and judicial changes that eliminated the feudal system, an incredibly vivid description of Bloody Sunday (January 9, 1905), WWI, and the horrors that ensued from the Bolshevik Revolution. When humanity becomes a mob, no species on earth can equal its cruelty; hyenas are much more civilized by comparison, and Himelstein shows us the senseless brutality of that era.

Pyotr's son Vladimir, once one of the richest playboys in Russia who spent his time with his race horses and the theater, becomes the one who brings the family business to the West, in an often heart wrenching tale of fortitude and resourcefulness. "The King of Vodka" is one of the finest biographical history books I have ever read, and recommend it to everyone who like me, has an affinity for Russian culture and its people.

This is actually three books in one: part history of Russia, part business book, and part biography. The first part takes the reader through the changes in Russia from Tsar to Socialism to Capitalism. Vodka proved to be a constant through these times. Appropriately, alcoholism is explored within the pages and it was amazing to learn that 33,000 Russians died of alcohol poisoning in 2006. It may be more than a stereotype that Russians enjoy their booze but it was interesting to see that they have also debated abstinence and prohibition through the centuries.

The business part of the book provides relevant lessons in product quality and branding. Pyotr Arsenievich Smirnov believed in offering a superior product at a reasonable price. He knew this would require volume to be successful so he pioneered and perfected various marketing techniques. He employed what we now call 'guerilla marketing', facilitated word-of-mouth, and sought celebrity endorsements (notably the Tsar). His success produced another set of problems including knock-offs which he combated with traditional advertising and packaging. This legacy of marketing innovation outlived him as the future brand owners ensured the vodka appeared in 21 of the James Bond films.

Most compelling is the Smirnoff family story (the spelling changed in the midst of the brand's history). There is infighting, premature deaths, divorces, scandals, and all of the other challenges one finds in a business family's dynasty. Two incredible facts are that Pyotr was born a serf and that the brand found new life after the Bolshevik eradication of the vodka business (but not vodka production). In fact, how the brand grew in the late 20th century and gained a premium association is a great business story. A cool side-fact is that berry-infused vodka's have been around since the early days of Pyotr's distilling which I thought was a relatively new innovation to extend vodka's appeal. So the book is well worth the read and best enjoyed with a Smirnoff vodka served neat.

Journalist Linda Himelstein writes about one of the most prominent men in Russian history, Pyotr Smirnov and his vodka empire thus putting a face behind the label. THE KING OF VODKA: THE STORY OF PYOTR SMIRNOV AND THE UPHEAVAL OF AN EMPIRE is an extensively researched narrative based on personal recollections from Pyotr's third wife to primary and secondary sources translated from Russian to English and her association with Economic history at Moscow State University. The story begins with the vodka mogul's elaborate funeral in 1898 setting the stage to the history of the Smirnov family, which begins during the period of Tsar Nicholas I and concludes with the Gorbachev era and beyond. This is a creative a narrative that is a blend of biography, economic history, and how the Smirnov business reached the rest of the world.

One of the interesting aspects about the history of Pyotr Smirnov's family was how they were part of Russia's social hierarchy within the serfdom level. As property to the state, the family relied and thrived off the land that would later become beneficial because they gained knowledge cultivating the land and the many ingredients that would be a contributing to establishing the manufacturing of vodka and transforming daily Russian and monastic ritual and regimen to a higher scale both socially and economically. But the Smirnov vodka empire would not have been possible without the entrepreneurial expertise from Pyotr's uncle Grigoriy and one his father's younger brothers who established trade in St. Petersburg and the outlying cities and opened a tavern and hotel where they rose above their circumstance and acquired prominence within Russian society that attracted not only the vodka drinking public but also served the Russian elite. Throughout Pyotr's life, he had an undying need to foster better relations with the Imperial Palace and the Tsar of Russia, which eventually took place during the end of his lifetime.

But in terms of history, the book reveals historical as well as trivial elements to the history of the Smirnov Empire that coincided with Pyotr and his family's life. There are brief mentions of the Crimean War, industrialization in Russia, the abolition of serfdom, and the Great Russian Reform of 1861-1864 that helped to create public jury trials replacing the old feudal system and corporations and commercial banking. But all of this activity would take a detour once the Bolshevik Revolution took place. Also noteworthy, Himelstein attempts to present Smirnov's nemesis, Russian author Leo Tolstoy and the drama surrounding temperance; he was a leading proponent of abstinence and founder of the Union Against Drunkenness, a temperance society. And lastly, another interesting part about the book is the discussion of writer Anton Chekov's Vodka Wars. As a literary critic, Chekov poked fun at vodka manufacturers especially Smirnov with which he referred to as "satan's blood" under the pen name Ulysses. And if readers want to know how the name Smirnov was changed to Smirnoff that is also briefly mentioned as well.

Overall, this is an insightful book that provides the history of the Smirnov Vodka Empire and how it interconnects with history and business. Most importantly, how the vodka industry had its successes and pitfalls within Russian society.

The title "The King of Vodka - The Story of Pyotr Smirnoff and the upheaval of an Empire" captures only a fraction of a truly panoramic picture skillfully painted by Himelstein. She starts with a story about a serf who, without any formal education, builds the most popular brand of an alcoholic beverage and becomes one of the most successful businessmen in the 19th century Russia. She shows how this self-taught entrepreneur overcomes all odds that would have prevented any modern MBA from entering the business, let alone becoming its leader, including

1. tremendous competition (300 existing brands of vodka),
2. under-funding (he started from the proverbial scratch),
3. negative image (continuous anti-alcoholism campaigns at all levels),
4. inferior social standing, and
5. government hostility (which heavily depended on the taxes from vodka sales and periodically monopolized the entire industry).

Based on years of meticulous research, Himelstein turns a tale about an extraordinary man into a sweeping story about a dynasty, including several generations of his entire family, and stretching across almost two hundred years, starting with the inequities and the far reaching reforms of the Russian monarchy, the horrors of the Bolshevik revolution and socialism, and the first couple of decades of freedom and democracy in modern Russia. Her book is also a history of a brand, spanning two continents, from its creation and perfection in czarist Russia, to its choking but surviving in spite of mismanagement and internal feuds, to its complete vanishing under the communist destruction, to its awesome rebuilding in the United States. If starting a business that had to compete with 300 existing brands was not hard enough, think of starting it anew across the ocean in a country with centuries-old change-resistant culture of whiskey- and beer-drinking, and then driving the newly introduced beverage business to a multi-billion dollar operation!

A delightful reading for anybody interested in business development, large-scale change management, Russian history, or extraordinary biography.

Yuval Lirov, Medical Billing Networks and Processes - Profitable and Compliant Revenue Cycle Management in the Internet Age