Eristoff Eristavi (ერისთავი). The title means ‘head of the nation’ but translates more accurately as ‘head of a military force’. By the 19th century, five noble families each representing a different part of Georgia were using the name Eristhavi. Prince Ivane Eristoff who first created Eristoff vodka in 1806 was from the northwest province of Racha. A landmark in the history of the Eristoff family and Eristoff vodka came in the late 19th century when Ivane’s great grandson, Prince Alexander Constantine Eristoff moved from Georgia to Saint Petersburg. Prince Alexander went on to enjoy a distinguished military career eventually reaching the
Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff University Law Center in 1989. In 2000, Eristoff earned an Advanced Professional Certificate in Information Technology from New York University. Sidamon-Eristoff is the son of the late lawyer, government official, and environmental advocate Constantine Sidamon-Eristoff (1930–2011) and Anne Phipps Sidamon-Eristoff. His great-grandfather, Henry Phipps, was a partner of Andrew Carnegie. On his father's side, Eristoff is a grandson of Prince Simon Sidamon-Eristoff (1891–1961), a Georgian military officer and a scion of the noble Sidamoni-Eristavi family, who emigrated to the United States after the Bolsheviks invaded Georgia in 1921, and married Anne Tracy, a descendant of John Bigelow, an American lawyer,