SmirnoffSource


SmirnoffSourceOn one of those very rare occasions that we were not watching something previously recorded, my wife and I caught a commercial for SmirnoffSource. For some reason, we both listened to the commercial and didn’t get it. We actually went back and watched it again. I don’t know what it was about the commercial that actually got us to listen but it worked. Well, it kinda worked. I was convinced it was a commercial for a new “spring” water, a la Pepsi/Aqua Fina or Coke/Desani, with a Smirnoff label. Considering America’s fascination with bottled water, I didn’t think it was absurd. However, the ad was for a new beverage that is promoted as spring water with alcohol. Hmmmm. You would assume that the “alcohol” mentioned is vodka considering the brand name, but you’d be wrong. The alcohol in question is malt-based alcohol, just like all Smirnoff’s other “alcopops.”

Why would you buy this beverage? Is the spring water enough of a draw to get people to buy watered down malt-based alcohol? The Smirnoff site claims the beverage is lightly carbonated, has a slight citrus flavor and is meant to be a beer alternative or “an ultra-premium alternative to domestic beer.” Really? Have we been brainwashed enough to believe that we should buy this beverage because it has spring water? After all, that is what makes it “ultra-premium,” because it certainly isn’t the malt-based alcohol. Oh, the other thing is that it has a low alcohol content with only 3.5%. The press release explains the lower alcohol as a “response to consumer demand” and claims it to be “the first lower-alcohol flavored malt beverage on the market that fits modern lifestyles and offers adult consumers sophisticated new drinking experiences.”

So why are these Smirnoff beverages not mixed with vodka?   



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August 14th, 2007
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Comment Number:
1
Written by:
Phil
Posted on:
August 15, 2007 at 5:59 am

Because distilling vodka is more expensive than just brewing the “malt beverage”. At 3.5% ABV for 12 oz, you’d need about 40 cents (retail) of vodka, verses, I guess 10 cents for the fermented malt. Their price point is probably slightly higher than their current alcopop line, but this would make it too expensive for those sophisticated adult consumers.

Comment Number:
2
Written by:
Ian
Posted on:
August 15, 2007 at 6:49 am

I read a long and fascinating discussion about this recently.

Apparently the Federal classification rules for alcoholic beverages, which are adopted by most states, classify alcoholic beverages not by their alcohol content, but by the source of the alcohol.

Therefore if a drink containing 3.5% alcohol is made from vodka it would be classified and taxed as a distilled spirit, and would be restricted for sale only by retailers or liquor stores licensed for the sale of distilled spirits. On the other hand, if the same drink containing 3.5% alcohol is derived from fermented malt, then it will be classified as beer and can be sold by any shop licensed for the sale of beer, which is much less restrictive.

This situation is somewhat peculiar to the USA. In Europe drinks tend to be classified and taxed according to the percent alcohol regardless of where the alcohol came from, and no doubt the Smirnoff product there would actually contain vodka. I’m sure it must be easier just to dilute vodka with spring water than to brew beer and then filter all the beer flavour from it, which is what they have to do to produce a “flavoured malt beverage” in the US.

Comment Number:
3
Written by:
Bjorn
Posted on:
August 15, 2007 at 12:29 pm

Altough I cannot say for certain wheteher this is the actual reason or not, let me just note that in many european countries the rules regarding beverages with more than 3.5% alcoholic content are a lot stricter than for beverages with less. In Sweden for example (where I reside) supermarkets can only sell up to but not exceeding 3.5% - for stronger you have to go to state-run liquor stores. The tax for stronger beverages is also considerably higher. Perhaps similar rules apply in the US?

Comment Number:
4
Written by:
John
Posted on:
August 17, 2007 at 4:01 pm

An additional reason behind the proliferation of malt based drinks has to do with advertising. Beer (and thus malt based alcopops) can be advertised on television at any time of the day. A drink produced by adding distilled spirits falls under that category and thusly can only be advertised after a certain time (10 pm i think?). To Ian, yes, at least in the UK most alcopops have distilled alcohol added to them as opposed to being brewed malt beverages. Makes them much tastier, IMHO.