Beer and wine have passed vodka as Russia’s favourite drinks by volume but that does not seem to worry William Carey, the chief executive of Central European Distribution Corporation, the spirits producer, which has concluded a string of deals with Russian vodka companies this year.

In the last few months CEDC, which has a dual listing in Warsaw and on Nasdaq in New York, has made three key Russian purchases. It paid $157m for a 40 per cent stake in Russian Alcohol, a vodka producer with a 10 per cent share of the market in Russia. The rest of the company was acquired by Lion Capital, a London-based venture capital firm, but CEDC can exercise a call option in two years.