Pyotr Arsenievich Smirnov


Pyotr Arsenievich Smirnov created Russia's leading pre-revolutionary vodka company, an antecedent of both Smirnoff and Smirnov vodka. He was born a serf in Kayurovo, a rural Russian village, on 9 January 1831, and rose to become one of the wealthiest men in Russia.