Svedka is a brand of vodka

Vodka

Vodka , is a distilled beverage. It is composed primarily of water and ethanol with traces of impurities and flavorings. Vodka is made by the distillation of fermented substances such as grains, potatoes, or sometimes fruits....

 manufactured in Lidköping

Lidköping

Lidköping is a locality and the seat of Lidköping Municipality in Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 27,941 inhabitants in 2005.It is neatly situated on the southern shore of Lake Vänern and sometimes refers to itself as "Lidköping by Vänern", possibly to distinguish itself from Linköping near...

, Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 and owned by New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

-based Constellation Brands

Constellation Brands

Constellation Brands, Inc., headquartered in Victor, New York, is the world’s leading wine company with a broad portfolio of widely admired premium brands across the wine, beer and spirits categories.-History and description:...

. The product's name is a portmanteau of the words Sverige ("Sweden" in the Swedish language) and the word vodka. The spirit is 80 proof

Proof (alcohol)

Alcohol proof is a measure of how much alcohol is contained in an alcoholic beverage. The term was originally used in the United Kingdom and was defined as 7/4 times the alcohol by volume . The UK now uses the abv standard instead of alcohol proof. In the United States, alcoholic proof is defined...

 (40% alcohol). The flavored versions are 70 proof or 35% alcohol. A one-litre bottle is produced using about 1.5 kg of wheat and spring water. Svedka is bottled unflavored, as well as in citron

Lemon

The lemon is both a small evergreen tree native to Asia, and the tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit. The fruit is used for culinary and non-culinary purposes throughout the world – primarily for its juice, though the pulp and rind are also used, mainly in cooking and baking...

, cherry

Cherry

The cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus Prunus, and is a fleshy stone fruit. The cherry fruits of commerce are usually obtained from a limited number of species, including especially cultivars of the wild cherry, Prunus avium....

, clementine

Clementine

A clementine is a variety of mandarin orange , so named in 1902. The exterior is a deep orange colour with a smooth, glossy appearance. Clementines can be separated into seven to fourteen segments. They tend to be very easy to peel, like a tangerine, but are almost always seedless...

, raspberry

Raspberry

The raspberry or hindberry is the edible fruit of a multitude of plant species in the genus Rubus, most of which are in the subgenus Idaeobatus; the name also applies to these plants themselves...

, and vanilla

Vanilla

Vanilla is a flavoring derived from orchids of the genus Vanilla, primarily from the Mexican species, Flat-leaved Vanilla . The word vanilla derives from the Spanish word "", little pod...

 flavors.

It is manufactured by the Swedish Farmer's Co-op (Lantmännen) by order of Constellation Brands.

Svedka has received several awards from spirit ratings

Spirit ratings

With a growing number of microdistilleries and an expanding number of offerings from large corporate entities, a number of institutions have arisen to provide professional evaluations of individual spirits...

 organizations, including a rating of 93 points from Wine Enthusiast in 1999 and 2004, and a Silver Medal

Silver medal

A silver medal is a medal awarded to the second place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, and contests with similar formats....

 in the International Wine and Spirit Competition

International Wine and Spirit Competition

The International Wine & Spirit Competition is an annual wine competition founded in 1969 by the [German/British] oenologist Anton Massel.. Each year the competition receives entries from over 80 countries worldwide. The awards given by the competition are considered to be some of the highest...

. Proof66's aggregate score for Svedka's unflavored vodka places it in the Top 90th percentile among rated vodkas.


Svedka was acquired by Constellation Brands in March 2007 for about US$

United States dollar

The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

384 million.

Svedka creator, Guillaume Cuvelier, is now Executive Chairman of Synergy Beverages, which produces PURISTA

Purista

Purista is a treatment which works to inhibit bacterial growth, based on polyhexamethylene biguanide hydrochloride .The treatment is integrated into the product during manufacture and is produced and marketed by Arch Chemicals, Inc.-Applications:...

 super-premium all natural cocktail mixers.

It is probably best known in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 for the advertising campaign created by the New York-based agency Amalgamated

Amalgamated Advertising

Amalgamated is an independent advertising agency based in New York City. Founded in 2003 by Douglas Cameron, Jason Gaboriau and Charles Rosen, Amalgamated is a full-service ad agency and brand consultancy....

, introduced in late 2005, with a futuristic "spokesbot" designed by Stan Winston

Stan Winston

Stanley Winston was an American visual effects supervisor, makeup artist, and film director. He was best known for his work in the Terminator series, the Jurassic Park series, Aliens, the Predator series, Iron Man, Edward Scissorhands, and Avatar...

. The ads make the claim that in the year 2033 Svedka will be the most popular vodka in the world. In 2012, Svedka is to sponsor robotics contests ("sexiest robotics" competition) at several leading
U.S. engineering universities (CMU, Cal Tech, MIT, Stanford).

External links

• Svedka's Official Site (Requires Flash)