Pernod Ricard is banking on a taste for higher priced spirits in the United States and India, along with recovering demand for cognac in China, to speed up sales growth, its new boss told Reuters. The owner of Absolut vodka, Martell cognac and Jameson whiskey wants to overtake Britain's Diageo one day to become the world's biggest spirits company, and acquisitions could play a part, Alexandre Ricard said in an interview.