Here's the thing about vodkas.
Compared to other liquors, they're pretty
much all exactly the same,
by law.
Vodka must be distilled or treated until it
is
"without distinctive character, aroma, taste, or color."
And anybody who thinks otherwise is falling
for one of the big sales jobs in modern history.
A job pulled off — 
by that son-of-a right there.
That's Sidney Frank, and back in the ’90s
he had a simple dream.
Sidney Frank wants to create a high-end vodka
that will sell for wads of cash.
The only problem: the vodka law.
So how's Sid going to convince people that
his drink "without distinctive character"
is better than all the others out there?
His first step is to use the lessons he learned
back when he was just starting out in the alcohol business.
In 1972 he stumbles across Jägermeister.
At the time it's only selling about 500 cases
a year, mostly to old German men.
But Frank can smell an herbal-infused opportunity
from a mile away.
So he buys the import rights.
It's slow at first, but in 1985 he gets his
big break
when a local paper runs an article
saying that all the kids know this is what
you drink when you want to get drunk.
Frank sees this and from there basically invents
the playbook for modern liquor marketing.
He sponsors parties, he butters up bartenders,
he even set up a team of scantily clad women
to give out free shots.
He called them the Jägerettes.
He makes Jägermeister — just a heavy, herbal,
kind of cough syrupy beverage — the drink
of partygoers across American college campuses.
And after he does that, he sets his sights
higher, on vodka.
Now around this time, the fancy vodka that
everybody knows is Absolut.
But Absolut isn't really an expensive bottle
of vodka by today's standards.
Frank figures, Absolut's charging $17, I'll
charge $30.
So his product has to scream luxury.
And nothing says luxury like France.
He starts promoting his fancy French vodka
like crazy.
Here's a real commercial his company made.
"France, it is a country whose craftsmen are
renowned for their passion
and attention to detail."
"Only the highest-grade wheat, known as superior
bread-making wheat, is used."
"In Gensac, the spirit is combined with artesian
spring water, naturally filtered
through 500 feet of limestone, leaving it exceptionally
pure and ideal for blending."
Sure, this is well-distilled stuff, but mostly
Sid's vodka tastes like good marketing.
Sidney Frank's whole plan worked.
That vodka that he created, it was a huge
success both commercially and critically.
In 1998, Grey Goose was named the world's
best-tasting vodka
by the beverage tasting institute.
Sidney Frank sold it to Bacardi for more than
$2 billion
less than 10 years after he started the company.
And its success spawned all sorts of super
premium vodkas,
and a whole world of liquor marketing.
All that success off nothing more than the
crisp, clear, odorless, tasteless liquid in
the tall foggy bottle.
