SKYY Sales Gleam Like An On-Premise Gem

In Vodka Veritas

    Skyy Spirits, LLC., founded in 1992, has taken on the world with its versatile charms as the originator of one of the country’s leading domestic super-premium vodkas. The company now has a full range of luxury and super-premium products including: Skyy90, Skyy Vodka, Skyy Flavors, Cutty Sark, The Glenrothes,  1800 and Gran Centenario tequilas, Matusalem Rums, Martin Miller’s Gins, Campari, Cinzano, Ouzo 12, Carolans Irish Cream, Tullamore Dew Irish Whiskey, Irish Mist Liqueur and Tipperary Cream.

    Directed by industry gurus Gerard Ruvo, Anthony P. Foglio and Keith Greggor, Skyy came under the umbrella of parent company Gruppo Campari Company in 2002. A strong force in the beverage world, Gruppo Campari products trade in approximately 190 countries, and the relationship has secured Skyy’s place in international markets. The management team also continues to seek partnerships, joint ventures and alliances to add luxury and super-premium products to its portfolio, ultimately maximizing profitability for retailers and its stakeholders.

    “The super-premium and luxury portfolio of Skyy Spirits gives retailers a breadth of offerings, including vodka, rums, tequilas, whiskies and gin and distinctive Campari brands for consumers’ cocktail enjoyment,” says Keith Greggor, chief marketing officer for Skyy Spirits.  

A Painstaking Process for Quality

    This method strips the liquid of impurities with a three-filter process using charcoal, rough cellulose and fine cellulose, until piercingly clean vodka remains. The liquid then is checked once more for impurities before being distributed. In addition to the rigorous testing for quality, Skyy Spirits insists on American grain from the Midwest in Skyy Vodka products, as well as the finest in purified water to create a smoother spirit with fewer impurities.

    Its master distiller, Randall Schrick, has had more than three decades of experience and was a protégé of John Murtaugh and John Chambers. Under Schrick’s guidance, the team at Skyy Spirits has revolutionized distillation processes and set the bar for innovation in the vodka industry.

    From the original blue bottle with its signature silver lettering and crisp, even taste, to the Citrus, Melon and Orange flavors, which remain in an independent class of mixing prowess, Skyy vodka has become legendary, no matter into which style glass it is poured.

    The seven products currently available in the line include original Skyy Vodka, Skyy Orange, Skyy Melon, Skyy Citrus, Skyy Berry, Skyy Vanilla and the most recent, Skyy90.

From SKYY90 to Everything
    Launched in 2005, Skyy90 uses Amber winter wheat and Sierra Mountain water to produce the industry’s first 100 percent distillate. It has been described in F. Paul Pacult’s Spirit Journal as “properly clear and impeccably pure ... concentrated, dry and grainy.” He labels this new product “a benchmark within its category,” which is understandable after Skyy90 scored a 93 from Anthony Dias Blue in Patterson’s Spirit Journal, beating every other vodka in its class.

    Skyy Spirits houses every product in the line in high-quality packaging, however, the bottle for the recent Skyy90 brand is launching new press. The telltale hint of blue at the bottom of the upscale bottle links the fresh packaging to its ancestral, original Skyy vodka, but this virtually unblemished liquid is portrayed face first behind sleek, clear glass. Stepping out nationally in 2006, Skyy90 will be available in 50-milliliter, 750-milliliter and one-liter bottles.

    The AIGA, the professional association for design, will honor Skyy90 with the 365 Award in the packaging category this year.

    “We are very proud of Skyy90’s recent accolades reinforcing Skyy90’s superior taste, high design and advanced technology,” Paul Fuegner, vice president of marketing for Skyy, says. “Skyy90 was designed for the modern Martini experience for discriminating palates.”