A drink with… Tito Beveridge, Tito’s Handmade Vodka

The founder of Tito’s Handmade explains why his brand is the fastest-growing US vodka, how he’s keeping up with demand, and what “handcrafted” really means.

*This article was first published in the May 2015 issue of The Spirits Business magazine

Can you quite believe the incredible growth Tito’s has had lately?

It’s been completely surprising for me. I’ve watched brands grow over the years and I’ve never seen anything grow like this. We keep saying we’ve reached the limit and will start slowing down and it just keeps going and going. It was painful the first 8-10 years, because it took that long to get profitable, then it started growing and just kept going.

How are you planning to keep up with that demand?

We have just finished building 10 more pot stills the same size as the 11 we have now, and we have another 10 on the way, which will triple our capacity. This will make sure we don’t ever run out. It takes years to get your distributors’ focus, but when you run out they focus on something else and it takes them years to come back to it.

So you’re ensuring you’ll have enough vodka to satisfy international demand?

Six years from now we think the international business will start kicking in. We are getting there in a whole bunch of countries but it’s always been a slow burn. Right now it’s all about laying the ground work. We are doing this independently and we haven’t teamed up with any big liquor companies.

Have you been tempted to sell out along the way?

The big liquor companies are always interested in acquiring us, but I got into this thing not for the money but because I enjoy doing it. I’m the kind of guy that needs work or a project or I’d start sleeping late and withering away. If I sold it I’d be Tito, the guy who used to own Tito’s, which isn’t much fun.

How has the vodka market changed since you first started out?

When I first started there were some 86 vodkas in the US and I thought that was cluttered; now there are around 800 new vodkas released a year and a lot of craft distilleries. It’s a different business now to what it was back then. Vodka went through a big popularity with Martinis, then came the flavoured vodka push, which is dying down now.

With so much competition, what’s the secret to Titos’ success?

As stupid as it sounds, I think it’s because I really like vodka. It’s my favourite spirit and I’d rather drink vodka than beer and wine. It’s a reasonable price and really good quality. These days people like a fair trade – they know they can depend on it because it’s always good.

So many brands boast their “craft” credentials. Has the term become meaningless now?

Absolutely. Handcrafted, handmade, artisanal… it all means the same thing, which is that it’s done in a pot still by some artisan who would actually be overseeing the spirit. It took human instinct and years of working at it to make a really great product batch after batch. These days everyone puts ‘handcrafted’ on everything and I kind of stay out of the politics of the nomenclature. The term has been thrown around so much its almost meaningless these days.