Tito's Handmade Vodka

[LeNell]

Anybody tasted this stuff from Texas? Tito's

I've had a couple of customers ask me about it.

[TNbourbon]

Only seen it on a shelf once. Advertised regularly though, for the last couple of months, on Page 2 of the Wall Street Journal. That ain't cheap!

[Gillman]

This has been available in our area and I tried a bottle. It is good quality but seemed to me very similar to many other brands of vodka I have tried. It is a non-flavored vodka (no spices, citrus or other flavoring is added, not the one available here at any rate) so being vodka, it tends to have a neutral palate. Vodka is one of those drinks I've never felt I understand technically, e.g. grain neutral spirit is supposed to be without distinctive flavor or odor yet vodka producers subject it to varying filtration or other final treatments to make it even more so.. (?). Also, alcohol has a taste of its own even when very pure, this is the "ethanol" taste we all recognise in vodka, yet this taste or odour is considered without distinctive character, maybe this is because the whiskey congeners are removed to reveal the "taste" of the base ethanol itself.. I know I am sounding unclear but vodka again is one of those drinks I've never felt I really undertand in terms of its technical make-up. Recently I bought Ketel One which I recall enjoying some years ago. I thought at the time its pot still manufacture gave it a certain filip yet it too seems fairly neutral and, well, like vodka. I may be coming around to the idea that these grain neutral spirits from different companies are in fact very similar. I think there is some difference in mouth feel and sweetness amongst the brands (because it is known sugar is added to some) but apart from that the differences seem very subtle.

Gary

Gary

[wadewood]

"When I started this company, I thought I was getting in on a micro-distillery trend. I didn't know that brands like Knob Creek and Bookers were made by Jim Beam in bulk"

This is a quote from the Tito's Vodka website . There have been several posts in SB about what it would take to get a microdistillery going. Well, this guy did just that back in 1997. He had to get the state of Texas onboard first; nobody had asked about operating a legal distillery. Tito's is also made just from corn and malted corn.

That said, it is still just vodka.

[robbyvirus]

I was at our local Trader Joe's today and saw they had Tito's on sale for $18/bottle, so I sprung for one. I made a martini with it tonight and it tasted, well, like vodka. Frankly, I generally can't tell the difference between premium vodkas, and this one was no exception. It made an excellent martini, and at $18 a bottle it's cheaper than many of the premium vodkas, so that's good enough in my book. Interestingly I did notice a tiny bit of pulp-like residue in the bottom of the bottle, but this didn't seem to affect the taste or quality at all.

[LeNell]

Thanks for posting your thoughts. I like the sweetness that I find in Rain that I've not gotten in most vodkas. Maybe I'm partial because I love the folks at BT, but nevertheless, the vodka does taste differently than the other ones I have here in the store. It is noticeably sweeter and when tasted blind once, I thought it was flavored with vanilla. BT claims the sweetness is natural with no added sugar. I'll have to see if Tito's is anything like it.

[TNbourbon]

Regarding BT's Rain, one explanation for a 'sweetness' might be that it is distilled from 100% corn.

[pepcycle]

I've got a bottle in the martini stand and it I've served it chilled with paddlefish caviar. It works. It has a slightly oily rather than the crisp mouthfeel that I normally associate with vodka. I don't know if I'll buy it again, but I'll use what I have.