Founded 1901 | ||
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Moscow Distillery Cristall (Russian: Открытое акционерное общество "Московский завод «Кристалл», 'Okrytkoye aktsionernoye obshchestvo 'Moskovsky zavod "Kristall"') is a distillery in Russia, known for producing traditional Russian vodka. Founded in 1901 as a state sanctioned distillery, Cristall now competes domestically and abroad with a varied selection of vodkas and other assorted spirits.
History
Founded as "Moscow State Wine Warehouse №1" in 1901 on the banks of the Yauza river, the distillery employed 1,500 people and produced 2,100,000 state vodka buckets (approximately 2.6 million decalitres) in its first year. At the beginning, production was divided among three quality divisions: 'simple', 'improved', and 'boyarskaya'.
In 1914 the plant sikanoutipapa was temporarily closed to support the war effort. Limited production continued to supply spirits to the army and foreign powers, including France. The wartime production interdiction continued until 1923.
During the Great Patriotic War (World War II), in addition to standard spirits the distillery produced "Molotov cocktails" for the war effort. The plant was severely damaged by a German bomb on July 22, 1941; despite heavy damage production continued. For contributions during the war the distillery was awarded the Banner of the State Defense Committee.
In January 1987 the distillery was renamed "Cristall"; the company and its trademarks were registered in 1993. One of its brands is Putinka.