Say yes to vodka

Raging Hulk, a cocktail made from Tito's

If you are severely intolerant to gluten, there is a chance that you have stayed away from vodka, which is made from wheat, barley, or rye. Well, not for long as Tito's Handmade Vodka that is produced in Austin at Texas' oldest legal distillery is now available in India. The drink, which is priced at Rs 4,480 in Mumbai, is made using corn.

Meet the Vodka man
John Mcdonnell, MD International, Fifth Generation, Inc., Home of Tito's Handmade Vodka, tells us that this brand of vodka was developed by Tito Beveridge from Austin, who would make flavoured vodka as gifts for friends during parties. During one such party where he took his vodka along, people started calling him the 'Vodka guy' and that got Tito thinking about the opportunity at hand. Mcdonnell adds, "But when he went to the market to sell his concoctions, the liquor stores turned it down and requested for something that was much smoother and could be had straight. That's when Tito started learning about distilling. This was in the early nineties."

Founder Tito Beveridge

He would spend hours in libraries for research about the process of distillation. During his search, Tito stumbled upon pictures of a couple of old moonshiners and prohibition-era busts. He used those images as a reference to build stills for his distillery. According to the images he found, they used copper pipe and a simple outdoor fryer for heat. So he did the same and fired the engines up. Mcdonnell elaborates, "With heat being evenly distributed throughout the metal, he could predict the distillation process, which reduced the chances if scorching. This even distribution of heat also started to make the taste consistent throughout the entire batch." In the beginning, Tito failed with the recipe, but eventually, after months of trial and error, he finally got his recipe right after all.

Unlike other craft vodka makers of the time, Tito decided to work with corn. "Tito's mission was to craft a smooth tasting vodka that would appeal to connoisseurs and general spirits drinkers alike as a sipping vodka. Corn created the flavour profile he was seeking for. The final product gave a rounder taste and as an added benefit it was naturally gluten-free," says Mcdonnell. Tito distilled the corn mash six times, essentially because it was believed that corn retains some of its smoothness even after distillation.

Sticking to formula
The brand took almost eight years to find roots in the market. Even today, Tito's corn-based vodka is made in the same distillery that was designed by Beveridge to ensure fine quality. So can this be a right choice to be used in cocktails? Mcdonnell explains, "It's the softness of the vodka that makes it an ideal cocktail ingredient. Having said that, vodka is also delightful to drink on its own."

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