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The Troubling Success of Tito's Vodka (Forbes)


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I assume you also grow your own grain, blow your own glass, and farm your own corks? And use your own letterpress to make your labels?

Hey, that sounds like fun! ;-)

Don't know if it would make a lot of money in the long run, but as you essentially make clear, we can all be in this business for different reasons (although not for long, if not profitable at all).

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Glass making, printing, growing grain; these are not "distilling". They are trades and crafts in their own right, in the same way as a qualified cooper does not need to also grow the oak trees to own the title "Craftsman". The other terms are subjective in nature and very difficult to accurately define in this case. There is no way to practically prevent the coopting of terms such as "craft", "artisan", "hand made" and as we all know, if a major producer decides to use such terms which are not defined as a matter of law, the producer can say anything that the TTB permits them to say on their labels or advertising. It is up to the craft industry to organize, introduce definitions where necessary. Unfortunately, using production volume is dicey. Who decides the appropriate volume for a "craft" producer? Do craft producers with successful brands (that pay the bills) risk losing their "craft" status? This is the ongoing debate, "what is craft"?

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My wife was a baker for several years at a small neighborhood "artisnal" bakery. We laugh/cry when we see that you can now buy "Artisan" rolls from Panera bread, or hell, even Burger King.

Of course the folks with the big marketing budgets are going to co-opt what the little guys have to work hard to acheive. And I wonder how much the buying public can tell the difference.

Here's a funny blog on the misappropriation of these terms:

http://thatisnotartisan.blogspot.com/

Ralph, we have been focusing here on the term "craft", rightly so, but that does leave open the question of the meaning of other related terms commonly used in our industry now: artisanal, handcrafted, handmade, microdistillery, etc. All of which, as either a small or "craft" distillery grows or a large manufacturer adds a "craft" product, can become problematic.

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Remember when "unique" actually meant one-of-a-kind? Or, when "extreme" was a condition open only to the very bold and from which only a few returned intact? When "natural" meant it is in its useful natural state and was not manipulated? These terms lost their cache as a result of media overuse. Advertisers, Marketers, Adventure Parks, hamburgers, deodorant, toothpaste, chewing gum; all have diluted the impact of such descriptives and rendered them meaningless. It is not some sinister plot, just the way it goes in the modern world where communication is nearly immediate and greed is a driving factor. If it sells, it will be copied and mass distributed to make as much profit as possible from its fleeting popularity before the arrival of the next new thing. The true craft producer needs to focus on his own product, making it the best he can, making it available and telling the truth in his advertising, regardless what some greedy deep-pocketed corporate competitor does. It is not possible to stop overuse or misuse, exaggeration or hyperbole, it is simply the nature of the marketplace. But we don't have to participate, we don't need to take advantage of consumer naiveté. That is one hallmark of a real "craftsman", the truth about his goods. Tell the truth. If the truth you tell doesn't sell, perhaps you would better focus on the thing itself and not how you can inflate it just to convince reluctant consumers. Consumers want quality, they want the real story. The opposite is also true, if they come to disbelieve your pitch they will be offended and you'll lose the customer loyalty we all strive so hard to hold on to. No Craft Distiller has to exaggerate anything they are doing, or anything about their goods, what you're doing is cool enough without any inflation.

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  • 4 months later...

As the distiller and only other person on site at Tito's from 1998-2001 and the distiller at the helm making the hooch when we won the award at the World Spirits festival in 2001 I feel that I should stand up for TIto. In the very beginning we taste tested all the vodkas in the premium category and decided to take them on. Perfecting our techniques allowed us to achieve our goals and bring a high quality product to the market at an affordable price. When I met Tito he told me that he would be happy if he could make $300k a year, but my goals were much higher. I haven't been down there for a few years, but I do know Tito well. Success will not change him that much. He does not spend time on the internet or worrying about what people think about him. He just continues to make larger batches the same way we made the small batches when all we had was one small wood building. The investment in time and equipment I am sure have been extraordinary on his behalf in order to keep up with the growth. Tito never claimed to be a "craft" vodka, he said his vodka is "handmade". He didn't say that HIS hands made it. Have you ever made a batch of hooch without using your hands? Impossible. Somebody's hands are on the job.

I am also the guy who used to give the tours at Tito's since I was always at the shop. We did that until we figured out that people were coming by to spy on our operation in order to figure out how to start their own distillery. Also that was a ploy to draw attention to our distillery which eventually was no longer needed, since people began knowing who Tito's was, and who Tito was.

From a great month being 300 cases sold to where Tito is today has been a labor of love that has taken over 15 years. Now Tito lives that old American Dream that we all hear about, and I couldn't be prouder of his growth and success. The overhead and labor hours are daunting for any startup, and taxes and regulation are difficult to keep up with. Tito used to move all of his debt from one credit card to another in order to get the year of 0% interest on the new card for however long they offered it. He would pay the taxes with the credit line on the new card in order to keep us afloat. HIs wife was divorcing him at the time, and she was trying to take everything she could. Luckily she did not see any value in the distillery but nonetheless she put additional financial and emotional strain on TIto that he could have lived without I am sure. Fortunately things worked out in the end.

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