Making Vodka that Doesn’t Suck | The Well

Welcome to the first edition of The Well on Saucey—a quick weekly breakdown of the stories behind your favorite alcohol and CPG brands.

First up: the man behind Tito’s Handmade Vodka, and how he built a Texas distillery out of Dr Pepper kegs.

The Story of Tito’s

Bert Butler “Tito” Beveridge (yes, his last name is Beveridge) is a Texas native who initially pursued a career in oil and gas before dabbling in the mortgage business. His oil and gas career took him to South America, where he first started making alcoholic beverages by picking fruits and fermenting them.

When back in the U.S. in his mid 30’s (having no idea what he wanted to do) he started making flavored vodkas for his friends.

It turned out he really loved making vodka—way more than his oil and gas and mortgage careers (seems like this also might have been right around this time he realized his last name is “Beveridge”). So, Tito set out to learn how to distill vodka. He spent countless hours building stills based off of old photographs and at one point used two Dr Pepper kegs with a turkey-frying rig. He put $88,000 on credit cards to get things off the ground.

However, there was just one problem… back in 1993 there wasn’t a single distiller in the state of Texas. So he approached the TABC (Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission) to apply for a license, who told him Texas forbid distilleries unless he could first get a federal license.

He got that federal license (took 2 years), and became the first distiller in Texas.

Production kicked off in 1995 using corn as the base ingredient. He sold his first case in 1997, and in 2001 Tito’s won a double gold medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. That award is often credited with putting the brand on the map, since it arrived before the marketing budget did.

The company remained independently owned as it grew, which is unusual at that scale; most spirits that get big get bought.

Why I love Tito’s

The reasons are simple:

• The origin story is the real draw: two Dr Pepper kegs, a turkey-frying rig, and $88,000 on credit cards.
• The company is genuinely into dogs. Its Vodka for Dog People program rescues and rehomes pets, and that is a real program rather than a slogan.
• It’s made in Austin from corn.
• Independent ownership at national scale is rare enough to be worth noting on its own.

Cheers,
Chris Vaughn
CEO & Founder of Saucey

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