Ripcurl Festival goers set to drink sea water straight from the English Channel
An amazing state-of-the-art water purification installation created by the makers of Smirnoff® vodka will be appearing at the Rip Curl Boardmasters festival this summer. The installation demonstrates the extraordinary lengths Smirnoff go to purify its vodka, taking water directly from the sea, purifying it to make it clean enough to drink there and then.
The Smirnoff Purification Installation has already filtered some of the world’s toughest water into clean drinking H2O on a successful international tour. This has included the London Thames and the Marikina River in the Phillipines. To mark the launch of the impressive new sea-themed TV advertising from the makers of Smirnoff in mid-August, the Smirnoff Purification Installation’s next stop is Newquay’s world famous surfing championships, the Ripcurl Board Masters Festival. The installation will purify Newquay’s sea water and adventurous festival goers will be invited to take up the challenge of sampling ‘Pure Sea – filtered by Smirnoff’.
Masters in purity, the makers of Smirnoff have used their expertise to create the Smirnoff Purification Installation, where real water flows through a three-stage purification process cleaning it to a high level. It is then given the hallmark Smirnoff ‘finishing touch’ – a rigorous ten times filtration through Polish charcoal, the same charcoal used in the production of Smirnoff vodka. This ‘charcoalation’ process ensures extraordinary purity by removing invisible microscopic impurities to give the water a smooth, clean, pure finish for the public to enjoy.
The Smirnoff Purification Installation will be situated against the dramatic backdrop of the sea at the Unleashed Music Festival in the heart of the Rip Curl Boardmasters Championships. The purification system will be located by the live music areas which will be showcasing amazing bands such as Ash, Guillemots and Paulo Nutini.
The Newquay event kicks off a nationwide tour, which sees the installation visiting four cities in the country to coincide with the on-air broadcasts of the new TV advertising from Smirnoff. Audacious water-tasters can also check out www.smirnoff.com to attempt to purify the sea themselves using the interactive Smirnoff Purifier.
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Notes to editor
The Smirnoff word and associated logos are trade marks
Notes on Diageo
Diageo Great Britain is the sales and marketing division of Diageo in Great Britain. Diageo is the world's leading premium drinks business, owning such brands as SMIRNOFF®, GUINNESS®, GORDON’S ®, BELL’S ® and BAILEYS®. Visit www.diageo.com for more information on the company and brands.
Innovation is pivotal to Diageo Great Britain's growth and we are constantly monitoring the marketplace and talking to both consumers and commercial partners to help identify new opportunities and trends in the drinks industry.
Visit www.drinkaware.co.uk for information and guidance on responsible drinking.
Notes on Smirnoff®
Smirnoff Vodka is made using the highest quality ingredients including neutral spirit, demineralised water, charcoal. The neutral spirit is made from British Winter Wheat. It is continually distilled with a minimum of 3 stills to a strength of 96.4% ethanol. This leaves very pure spirit but the spirit is not yet Smirnoff. The water used in the production of Smirnoff is demineralised by passing it through resins to remove salts, carbon to remove organics and UV treatment to remove bugs. The water is added to the distilled spirit which is then reduced to 77% ethanol. This is then filtered ten times through charcoal over eight hours. The charcoal is of exceptional quality from silver birch and other hardwood sources. The supplier is FSC certified. This ‘charcoalation’ process removes trace off odours and taints. Once the spirit has passed through the 10 x charcoal filtration process it can be called Smirnoff vodka.
Notes on the Smirnoff Purification Installation
The plant is a state of the art custom designed installation that comprises a bespoke water purification unit, and ten filtration columns like to those used to give Smirnoff its extraordinary purity. The water passes through a sediment removal filter to remove solids from the water and is then chlorinated to kill the bacteria, before being passed through a series of filters to remove the sediment. The water is then passed through activated carbon to remove the excess chlorine and other chemicals before being subject to the reverse osmosis system. It is then continually filtered through an ultraviolet treatment system to ensure all bacteria and viruses are destroyed before being tested by an approved laboratory to ensure it complies with drinking water regulations. Finally comes the Smirnoff trademark ‘charcoalation’ ten times filtration, a polishing-effect that ensures extraordinary purity by removing further invisible microscopic impurities to give the water a perfectly smooth finish.