Oakville’s own Slava Vodka has been making its mark on the Canadian spirit industry in only four short years.
Made in Ukraine but sold right here in Oakville – Slava Vodka was originally marketed to Ukrainian Canadians – but has now become a Vodka for the spirit connoisseur.
“We are branching off,” John Vellinga said – President of Slava Vodka. “We are marketing to vodka connoisseurs, people who like stuff that’s good, but don’t necessarily care about all the fashion designer labels and pretty bottles.”
The vodka, which is not actually made in Oakville but at a distillery in the Cherkassy region of Ukraine, was first taste-tested and branded here in Oakville, then marketed and sold in Canada.
“We’re still pretty small by most standards, but at this point when you look at premium priced vodka, Slava is in the top five now,” Vellinga said.
“People are really looking for something different, something better in vodka. They are getting more sophisticated with their tastes in vodka and people are starting to discover vodka as a drink as more than something you just stick some orange juice with.”
“We decided to build our own brand of vodka from the ground up. From the trademark to the formulation, we would then work with experts over in Ukraine to create the liquid,” he said.
Slava also recently won the Armchair Dragon Contest by receiving the most votes from the viewers of the popular TV show Dragons’ Den.
John and his wife Katherine opened up their company in Oakville four years ago – returning from Ukraine after starting a business there. Their ideas were to have the Vodka produced in Ukraine and have all the creative work for the product done in Oakville.
It was a natural thing to do,” Vellinga said. “Vodka is the number one spirit in Canada right now and is the driver behind the entire category.”
“We thought that the combination of having our connections over in Ukraine, and having a connection to the Ukrainian community over here would work. But now we are at a stage where we want to take these brands and go beyond just the ethnic niche and get them into the hands of consumers.”
Oakville has been the home base for all of this, and has contributed to Vellinga’s dream of Slava Vodka becoming one of the best Vodkas sold in Canada.
“Everything is here, we live and work here,” Vellinga said. “We aren’t using Oakville as a bedroom and Toronto as a place to work.”
“This is where we wanted to live,” he said
Slava is available at the LCBO in Oakville and across Ontario. Slava also does corporate and private vodka tasting events.
Tags: Slava vodka
About the author: Michael Burton
Michael is journalist with experience in publishing, news writing and the magazine industry. He graduated from Sheridan College and is the former editor of TRAVIS magazine.
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