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Smirnoff was founded in Moscow in 1864 by Pyotr Arsenyevitch Smirnov, who pioneered charcoal filtration in the 1870s and captured two-thirds of the Moscow market by 1886. After the Russian Revolution, the Smirnov family fled and Vladimir re-established the brand (renamed Smirnoff) in Europe before selling North American rights in 1933. Now owned by Diageo and produced globally, Smirnoff is the world's best-selling vodka brand, maintaining the charcoal filtration tradition that made it a favorite of Russian royalty.