Quick Facts
- Brand: Tito’s Handmade Vodka
- Type: Corn-based vodka
- Distilled in: Austin, Texas
- ABV: 40% (80 proof)
- First produced: 1997
Tito’s Handmade Vodka is a corn-based vodka produced in Austin, Texas, bottled at 40% ABV. It started as a small operation founded by Bert “Tito” Beveridge and now runs at national scale.
This page collects what independent reviewers have published about it. We sell this bottle, so we are not going to tell you how it tastes, and we are not going to score it either.
What independent reviewers scored it
| Source | Published | Normalized |
|---|---|---|
| Booze Blog | 94/100 (2014) | 94 |
| 88 Bamboo | 7.5/10 | 75 |
| Honest Booze Reviews | 37.25/70 | 53 |
Those three average 74 out of 100.
An earlier version of this page showed 80. That figure included a Saucey customer rating of 99, sitting in the same table as the independent reviewers and pulling the average up six points. Averaging our own store rating into a critics’ aggregate, on a page selling the bottle, is not a review. It has been removed from the table and from the number.
The remaining spread is still wide: 53 to 94, on a product the category regulates toward neutrality. The 94 is also from 2014. Read the three separately rather than trusting the middle of them.
Why vodka scores cluster, and why these don’t
Under US regulation, vodka must be distilled or treated so as to be without distinctive character, aroma, taste or color. Neutrality is the legal definition of the category, not a failure to achieve something.
That makes a 41-point spread across three reviewers unusual, and it is more informative than the average. Reviewers are describing small differences using the full width of their scales, which is a scoring convention rather than a measurement. An aggregate built from scales that disagree about what a midpoint means will not mean much either.
What producers can vary is the base grain, the still configuration and the filtration. Tito’s uses corn, where most large brands use wheat or rye.
What reviewers said
“A clean vodka that’s a little sweet and buttery.” — Booze Blog
“Smooth, mellow, with a distinct but gentle sweetness.” — 88 Bamboo
“It’s a very neutral vodka, not much to be excited about but no faults either.” — Honest Booze Reviews
Their words, at their links. Note that the third one is describing the same liquid as the first.
Fitting into cocktails
The mechanical answer for any 40% neutral spirit is that it contributes alcohol and volume without a competing flavor of its own. That is the job vodka does in a Moscow Mule, a Bloody Mary or a vodka soda.
Corn as a base grain is the one variable worth knowing here, since most of the large brands use wheat or rye. Whether that difference registers in a mixed drink is a question you can settle at home faster than any page can settle it for you.
Strength and serving
At 40% ABV, a 1.5 oz pour is exactly 1 standard drink. A cocktail built on 2 oz is about 1.3.
A US standard drink is 0.6 fl oz of pure alcohol, the same as a 12 oz beer at 5% or a 5 oz glass of wine at 12%.
Production notes
- Made from corn rather than wheat or rye.
- Produced in Austin, Texas.
- First produced in 1997.
- The Love, Tito’s program is the brand’s charitable arm.
On gluten: corn is not a gluten grain. How spirits may be labeled in relation to gluten is set by the TTB and is narrower than most people assume, so we are not going to characterize this bottle either way. If it matters to you, that is a conversation for your doctor rather than for us.
The fine print
What’s available depends on your address. Enter it at saucey.com and we’ll show you what’s in stock nearby. Saucey fills orders from a network of independent local liquor stores rather than a central warehouse, across 49 markets, so selection varies by shop. Delivery is $4.99, plus applicable taxes and fees, shown before you order. Orders can arrive as fast as 25 minutes, though distance, time of day and holiday demand all move that number.
21 and up. ID at the door, every time.
