Siku vodka a chip off the old ice block

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/05/2010 (5837 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When Peggy Johnson wanted to differentiate her vodka from the rest of the bottles on store shelves, she turned to Greenland. Where else?

The CEO of Winnipeg-based Premium Glacier Inc. knew from her experience in the water business that glacier water is as pure as you’ll find, so she negotiated an agreement with the Greenland government to harvest glacier ice after it had naturally plunged into the ocean.

Once it’s bobbing in the water, the ice is plucked out and shipped two hours by boat to the company’s processing facility in the Netherlands, where it’s bagged and put in cold storage.

The ice, however, never becomes water. It’s mixed directly with premium grain alcohol and the combination becomes liquid at -25 C, creating Siku Glacier Ice Vodka.

"In essence, we’re making a huge Slurpee," Johnson said of Premium Glacier’s proprietary ice-blending process. "Using glacier ice is much smoother (than water). It takes five days to melt the ice and for that to mix with the alcohol to become vodka."

Johnson said it would have been easy to simply turn on the tap to source one of the primary ingredients for Siku, but using glacier ice differentiates it from competitors. "It’s as pure as it gets," she said.

Having a great story behind your bottle helps it stand out from the crowd in an ultra-competitive market, according to Robert Warren, the I. H. Asper executive director for entrepreneurship at the University of Manitoba.

He said Dos Equis beer from Mexico has a winner with its campaign centred on "the most interesting man in the world," while Sleeman Breweries made its mark with ads promoting its origins of plundering Slyman pirates, who eventually gave up their evil ways, changed the spelling of their name, moved inland and opened taverns.

"That’s been a constant theme in the liquor industry. It’s different and people are always looking to try something different. Greenland is associated with glaciers, which are usually thought of containing old ice. When you melt it, the water would be free of the impurities of today. That’s an interesting concept," he said.

Johnson said the company doesn’t release its raw sales figures but 10 per cent of Premium Glacier’s revenue comes from Canada.

It also distributes Siku to Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark and Vietnam and it’s setting up its own distribution system in the United States.

Johnson said while Premium Glacier has just one product in its portfolio, she plans to expand into gin and other spirits.

She said there’s more than enough glaciers in the ocean to handle her company’s anticipated growth.

"Oh, yes. We don’t ever have to worry about (running out of glaciers)," she said.

Steve McConnell, manager of marketing at the Manitoba Liquor Control Commission, said Siku is a deluxe product that captures a sliver — less than one per cent — of the province’s vodka market.

"Siku sells about 690 cases per year. That’s not a bad share of market for a $40-plus bottle of vodka," he said, noting there are a dozen bottles per case.

Economy bottles of vodka, such as Alberta Pure Vodka, sell for about $18, premium bottles retail for about $24, while anything over $30, such as Smirnoff, Absolut or Crystal Head, is considered deluxe.

McConnell said Newfoundland-based Iceberg Vodka uses ice harvested from icebergs off the Atlantic coast.

geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca