SKYY vodka is an American vodka spirit produced by the

Campari America Campari America is an American spirits maker. It was launched in 1992 by founder Maurice Kanbar in San Francisco, which is also the headquarters for the company. SKYY vodka was introduced as its first product. Its majority shareholder is the Campar ...

division of

Campari Group Davide Campari-Milano N.V., trading as Campari Group, is an Italian company active since 1860 in the branded beverage industry. It produces spirits, wines, and non-alcoholic apéritifs. From its signature product, Campari, its portfolio has been ...

Milan, Italy Milan ( , , Lombard language, Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the List of cities in Italy, second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 ...

, formerly SKYY Spirits LLC. SKYY Vodka is 40%

ABV Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as ABV, abv, or alc/vol) is a standard measure of how much alcohol (ethanol) is contained in a given volume of an alcoholic beverage (expressed as a volume percent). It is defined as the number of millilitres (mL) o ...

or 80

proof Proof most often refers to: * Proof (truth), argument or sufficient evidence for the truth of a proposition * Alcohol proof, a measure of an alcoholic drink's strength Proof may also refer to: Mathematics and formal logic * Formal proof, a con ...

, except in Australia and New Zealand where it is 37.5% ABV / 75 Proof and in South Africa where it is 43% ABV / 86 Proof. Its creator,

Maurice Kanbar Maurice Kanbar (March 1, 1929 – August 20, 2022) was an American entrepreneur and inventor who lived in San Francisco, California. He was particularly well known for his creation of SKYY vodka and was also noted for his extensive real estate i ...

, claims the vodka is nearly congener-free due to its

distillation Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separation process, separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distilla ...

process. That is why the popular company slogan is "Vodka so filtered - we even took the Russia out of it". The bottle is a

cobalt blue Cobalt blue is a blue pigment made by sintering cobalt(II) oxide with aluminum(III) oxide (alumina) at 1200 °C. Chemically, cobalt blue pigment is cobalt(II) oxide-aluminium oxide, or cobalt(II) aluminate, CoAl2O4. Cobalt blue is lighter ...

with a clear, adhesive label. In 2008, SKYY expanded the SKYY Vodka line with seventeen new flavors, referred to as SKYY Infusions. These SKYY Infusions are made with fruit.

Brand ownership history

SKYY vodka was originally sold by SKYY Spirits LLC, established in 1992 by

. In 2009 SKYY Spirits LLC was acquired by

, and in 2012 was renamed Campari America. It is now a wholly owned subsidiary of

Gruppo Campari Davide Campari-Milano N.V., trading as Campari Group, is an Italian company active since 1860 in the branded beverage industry. It produces spirits, wines, and non-alcoholic apéritifs. From its signature product, Campari, its portfolio has been ...

, and markets not only the

vodka Vodka ( pl, wódka , russian: водка , sv, vodka ) is a clear distilled alcoholic beverage. Different varieties originated in Poland, Russia, and Sweden. Vodka is composed mainly of water and ethanol but sometimes with traces of impuritie ...

line, but other Campari products as well.

Manufacturing

Production and bottling of the product was initially outsourced to Frank-Lin Distillers Products in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...

. Bulk

ethanol Ethanol (abbr. EtOH; also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound. It is an Alcohol (chemistry), alcohol with the chemical formula . Its formula can be also written as or (an ethyl ...

was delivered in railroad tank cars to Frank-Lin's

railroad siding A siding, in rail terminology, is a low-speed track section distinct from a running line or through route such as a main line, branch line, or spur. It may connect to through track or to other sidings at either end. Sidings often have lighte ...

near the San Jose rail yards. The ethanol was mixed with filtered and

deionized water Purified water is water that has been mechanically filtered or processed to remove impurities and make it suitable for use. Distilled water was, formerly, the most common form of purified water, but, in recent years, water is more frequently puri ...

, flavoring was added, and the product was bottled using a 42-head US Bottlers Machinery Company filling machine to ensure uniform product level. The ethanol was purchased from MGP Ingredients of

Atchison, Kansas Atchison is a city and county seat of Atchison County, Kansas, United States, along the Missouri River. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 10,885. The city is named in honor of US Senator David Rice Atchison from Missouri an ...

, a bulk ethanol producer for beverage, industrial, and fuel applications. MGP uses

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

as a feedstock for the process. The distillation plant is in

Pekin, Illinois Pekin () is a city in and the county seat of Tazewell County in the U.S. state of Illinois. Located on the Illinois River, Pekin is the largest city of Tazewell County and the second most populous municipality of the Peoria metropolitan area, a ...

and is currently powered by natural gas, but

United States Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it be ...

approval has been requested to convert the plant to burn coal. After the acquisition of the brand by Gruppo Campari, production was moved to Campari facilities.

Awards

The unflavored SKYY won silver medals at the

San Francisco World Spirits Competition The San Francisco World Spirits Competition was founded in 2001 by Anthony Dias Blue as an off-shoot of the San Francisco International Wine Competition. It assesses hundreds of entrants annually (1,407 in 2013 from 63 countries) with tastings inv ...

References

Bibliography

*''Secrets from an Inventor's Notebook'', Maurice Kanbar, Penguin Books, 2001,

External links

SKYY Vodka website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Skyy Vodka American vodkas Alcoholic drink brands California culture Cuisine of the San Francisco Bay Area Campari Group