Bacardi Launches Eristoff Vodka

by David Kiley (RSS feed)
Feb 20th 2011 at 2:01PM

Bacardi Global Brands certainly has the rum and super-premium vodka categories covered with Bacardi and Grey Goose. Now, it is extending its Eristoff premium vodka brand to the U.S.

Eristoff hails from the former Soviet state of Georgia, which Eristoff's marketing has long capitalized on as "The Land of the Wolf" (the grey wolf actually). A very popular ad for Eristoff shows a man walking through the streets and into the woods beyond. He comes to be chased by a pack of wolves. The payoff of the ad is that the man is running inside a snowglobe, eventually running into the outer glass wall of the globe. Eristoff's logo is a wolf howling at a crescent moon.

Eristoff is made from 100% grain, tripled distilled and charcoal filtered. The recipe is said to be the original from 1806 created by Prince Eristoff of present day Georgia. It comes in three varieties: Original (80-proof); Red (40-proof), which comes in a red color and is flavored with sloe berries; Black (40-proof), which comes in a dark color and is flavored with wild berries. There are two other flavors abroad that are not part of the U.S. launch--Limskaya (lime flavor) and Gold (caramel flavor).

The suggested retail price for Eristoff is $13.99 for a 750 ml bottle, $16.99 for a 1 liter bottle and $23.99 for a 1.75 liter bottle.

Bacardi launched the brand in New York City on Feb. 16 in Manhattan's meat-packing district close to midnight at a party featuring people dressed as wolves howling at the moon.

Premium and super-premium spirits are growing again as the economy recovers, while value-priced brands are slipping. And vodka remains the fastest growing spirit. Vodka, which accounts for 31 percent of industry volume, was up 6.1 percent at 59 million cases in 2010, according to the Distilled Spirits Council.

Tags: bacardi, eristoff black, eristoff red, eristoff vodka, grey goose, land of the wolf, premium vodka, Volvo