Smirnoff marks Watermelon Day with new flavour

To celebrate National Watermelon Day, Diageo has extended its Smirnoff Sourced vodka range with the addition of a watermelon-flavoured variant.

Smirnoff Sourced Watermelon is made from Smirnoff No. 21 and real fruit juice from concentrate

Released ahead of National Watermelon Day (3 August), Smirnoff Sourced Watermelon is made with Smirnoff No. 21 and real fruit juice from concentrate, along with other “natural flavours” and is recommended kept refrigerated once opened.

Bottled at 30% abv, it is recommended served with splash of club soda, mixed into a cocktail or served as festive watermelon gelatine shots.

The Smirnoff Sourced range, which was unveiled in February last year, is labelled gluten-free and devoid of high-fructose corn syrup. The new flavour joins Ruby Red Grapefruit, Cranberry Apple, and Pineapple.

The range is said to bring “authenticity to an often artificially flavoured category of the spirits business”.

Smirnoff Sourced Watermelon is available in the US for an RRP of US$13.99.

Diageo saw its organic net sales grow by 4% to reach £12.1 billion (US$15.8bn) in its 2016/17 financial year, with growth across all key regions. Smirnoff continued to struggle and saw organic declines of 1%.