Put your glasses up! Tito's Handmade Vodka headquartered in Austin, Texas has just been named the number one top-selling spirit in the United States, beating out frontrunner Smirnoff vodka and Grey Goose. The report is analyzed yearly by the International Wine and Spirits Record (IWSR), the leading market information source for the spirits, wine, and beer industry. According to the press release, Tito's sales jumped more than 20% in 2019. Now that's true Texas spirit.
All about Tito's Vodka
Tito's vodka originally started out as a hobby. Tito Beveridge grew up in San Antonio, played polo and studied geology in college. For fun, he distilled vodka to share with his friends using "two Dr. Pepper kegs and a turkey-frying rig." Tito fell in love with the beverage industry and started Fifth Generation, inc. In 1997, Tito's opened and Tito's Handmade Vodka became Texas' first legal distillery. Unlike other vodka brands which use potatoes or wheat, Tito's specializes in creating vodka from yellow corn.
The company uses old-fashioned pot stills (the same kind to make fine single malt scotches and high-end French cognacs) to create small batches of the vodka in their microdistillery. The handcrafted technique takes longer and proves the distillation process to be more difficult than using modern column stills, but pays off in the end product.
In 2001, the company was distilling over 40,000 cases a year and turning the spirits business on its head. Today the company produces its spirits in a large facility filled with ten floor-to-ceiling stills and equipment that allows them to bottle 500 cases of vodka an hour.
Our Favorite Tito's Cocktails
Tito's Bloody Mary
Tito's vodka, tomato juice, hot sauce, and fresh cracked black pepper make this the drink of the weekend brunch.
MoTito
Vodka plays its part in this traditional rum cocktail.
Tito's Sparkling Raspberry
Infused raspberry vodka is the star of this bubbly cocktail.
