Beluga Vodka International

Our background goes beyond just separated facts. It is a unique story of a rapid take-off and rise of a Russian spirits company which has built a transparent business based on best international practices and has brought together a team of passionate and committed people who know how to create brands.

Our company was founded in 1999 as Synergy Group. From the very start, our objective has been to excel every other company in the industry in every aspect: product quality, product range, manufacturing process and business scale.

By creating a high-capacity product manufacturing block and building an extensive distribution network within a very short period of time, we managed to become one of the 8 largest distilleries in Russia back in 2005. The company was going up with the speed of a space rocket. Dynamic growth, efficiency and experience – those are the keywords that describe the first years of BELUGA GROUP’s business.

Just one year later, our company hit top 4 in the industry. The next year (2007) marked a truly crucial change: BELUGA GROUP’s brand portfolio was reinforced with a super-premium BELUGA vodka, which is presently the absolute leader in its category in the Russian market, as well as a worldwide style icon. In the same remarkable year, BELUGA GROUP acquired Belenkaya vodka brand, the leader of the medium price segment. Following that, BELUGA GROUP conducted a highly successful initial public offering of its shares in the stock market and reached a capitalisation over 1B USD.

That marked the start of a new chapter in our Company’s history. In 2008, BELUGA brand was successfully launched in Europe and America, where the Company established its first overseas office. On the same year, Myagkov, a popular vodka brand, was added to our portfolio. The Company began cooperating with global movie and music stars: an advertising contract with Sylvester Stallone was signed.

At the same time, our Company’s brands, exceeding 1 million cases sales a year, permanently entered important international ranking lists annually published by such major market research agencies and industry magazines as Impact, Drinks International Millionaires Club, IWSR, The Spirits Business. Our Company’s international presence rapidly grew: BELUGA GROUP launched operations in the Middle East markets, continued its European expansion and extensively exploited the Duty Free sales channel. It was at that time that BELUGA GROUP became one of the fastest growing Russian businesses.

In the following years, BELUGA GROUP continued to implement its well-thought-out strategy. It expanded its presence in the Russian and international markets, annually increased its production and kept launching new products and product categories. In 2010, the Company made a rapid entry into the top-three Russian spirits companies while its annual output exceeded 140 million litres.

The next important milestone of BELUGA GROUP’s development was an exclusive product distribution agreement entered into in 2011 with William Grant & Sons, a global leader in alcohol manufacturing. The Company started a new line of business which later showed a remarkable growth as Camus Cognac House’s and other famous international alcohol manufacturers’ brands were added to the Company’s import portfolio through exclusive distribution deals. It was at this time that BELUGA GROUP’s proprietary and unique distribution system was finalised. At present this system has a staff over 3,500.

BELUGA GROUP also continues to expand its own brand portfolio. Beluga Allure and Beluga Transatlantic Racing were launched in the Russian and international markets. In 2013, new contracts were signed in North America with several industry leaders, such as Southern Wines & Spirits. At the same time, Beluga entered the Chinese market. In Russia, the Company started brewing its own Fox&Dogs whiskey and later brought several popular cognacs (Bastion, Stone Lion) and Doctor August liqueurs into circulation.

As the Company continued to monitor market trends and consumer preferences closely in the subsequent years, it expanded its import brand range by adding new product categories, such as tequila, rum and gin made by famous international manufacturers. Moreover, BELUGA GROUP created a separate division for wine distribution business and launched sales of several most exquisite wines produced in France, Spain, Italy, Chile and South Africa.

2016 was another breakthrough year. BELUGA GROUP confidently entered the top-three Russian cognac manufacturers while remaining to be the undeniable frontrunner in vodka business. The Group entered into a unique agreement with Bacardi, a global alcohol business leader, through which the Group’s distilleries were enabled to bottle William Lawson’s whiskeys. The Group also marketed brand new bitter alcohol products: Beluga Hunting Berry and Beluga Hunting Herbal.

A unique, limited edition product: Beluga Epicure By Lalique, a hand-made crystal decanter with exquisite Beluga Epicure vodka, became the pinnacle of the Company’s brand creation experience. The beverage’s recipe was recreated using materials found in archives treasured at the Company.

And that’s not the end of BELUGA GROUP’s story. New discoveries, spectacular achievements and amazing new drinks - all of this is ahead of us. We are creating more than just brands and festive mood: we are creating our own history.