Tito Beveridge fought the state for the first legal distilling licence in Texas and built his first pot still out of two Dr Pepper kegs and a turkey fryer. Austin has been distilling ever since, and the newest rooms are doing it off grain and water the city can point at.
Austin spirits.
a habit of the place · South Austin, Dripping Springs and the Hill Country
austin seems to be vodka capital. started with things like titos. now its kruto flawless; goodnight living. like i don't like vodka, but this quality and value of spirit is crazy good. imagine if they applied that to other things.
Jeff's note
What it is
Austin distils, and it started with one licence. Tracey Minkin's account of Tito Beveridge in Austin Monthly begins with the paperwork: "He fights bureaucracies to get the very first legal license to distill in the whole state of Texas, then attempts three rounds of fundraising, all of which are abject failures." 1 What came out of that outsells every other spirit in the country. The distillers who followed are working inside the city and out toward Dripping Springs.
Why it matters here
Minkin's line is that "Tito's Handmade Vodka outsold Smirnoff—the once-Russian vodka owned by British conglomerate Diageo—to take the No. 1 position in U.S. sales", and industry counts put 2018 at nearly 7.4 million cases. 1 Goodnight Loving took Platinum at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition in 2024, and it is made by a father and son on spring water off the Goodnight Loving Spring. 3
How it is done
The first still was scrap. Minkin: "He MacGyvers two Dr Pepper kegs and a turkey fryer into a pot still, using as a guide, he claims, archival photos of illegal home versions being busted up by Texas lawmen." 1 The grain choice was just as practical, because "Tito decides to distill his mash from corn, which is easy to get locally". 1 At Still Austin Whiskey Co. the same instinct runs through better equipment. Chris Seals states the buying rule as "Still Austin focuses on the grains that are indigenous to this region", which means the white corn Texas grows for tortillas rather than Ohio Valley yellow. 2 The spirit runs off a 42-foot continuous column still designed by Michael Delevante and built by Forsyths in Scotland, on a mash of 70 percent corn, 20 percent wheat and 10 percent malted barley. 2
Who does it
Bert Butler Beveridge II was an oilman, an environmental engineer and a
mortgage broker before he was a distiller, and Minkin's piece treats the three
failed fundraising rounds as the interesting part.
1
Still Austin Whiskey Co. was started by two married couples and a father
and son: Lisa and Andrew Braunberg, Joanna and Sal Salinas, and Chris Seals
with his father Cleveland. Joanna Salinas states the operation plainly:
We're a grain-to-glass distillery. We make it all from scratch.
2
Goodnight Loving is a father and son too.
3
On the list
best version at
Still Austin Whiskey Co.The first whiskey distillery inside the city limits since Prohibition, working the white corn Texas grows for tortillas.
“Still Austin focuses on the grains that are indigenous to this region”
The Austin Chronicle, on Texas whiskey, quoting Chris Seals [2]
Where to get it
Walk into Still Austin Whiskey Co. in south Austin, the first whiskey distillery inside the city limits since Prohibition. 2 Buy the vodkas at a bottle shop. Goodnight Loving announced a Dripping Springs expansion in April 2026. 3 Kruto Flawless is the odd one out and is not Texan at all: it is distilled in central Ukraine off a 300-year-old Cossack recipe, run fifteen times through the still, and sold here by a company in Frisco. 4
What they make
- Tito's Handmade Vodka. It is distilled from a corn mash in pot stills, and it outsold Smirnoff to take the top of the American spirits market.
- Goodnight Loving Vodka. Made by a father and son on Goodnight Loving Spring water, and it took Platinum at the 2024 San Francisco World Spirits Competition.
- Still Austin whiskey. A mash of 70 percent corn, 20 percent wheat and 10 percent malted barley, off a 42-foot column still built in Scotland.
- Kruto Flawless. Distilled in central Ukraine off a 300-year-old Cossack recipe, fifteen times through the still, and sold here by a Texas company.
Sources & mentions
- [1]Austin Monthly, Tracey Minkin, How Tito's Vodka Took Over the World, June 2020
“He fights bureaucracies to get the very first legal license to distill in the whole state of Texas, then attempts three rounds of fundraising, all of which are abject failures.”
“He MacGyvers two Dr Pepper kegs and a turkey fryer into a pot still, using as a guide, he claims, archival photos of illegal home versions being busted up by Texas lawmen.”
“Tito decides to distill his mash from corn, which is easy to get locally.”
“Last year, independently owned, Austin born and bred, Texas proud Tito's Handmade Vodka outsold Smirnoff—the once-Russian vodka owned by British conglomerate Diageo—to take the No. 1 position in U.S. sales.”
- [2]The Austin Chronicle, Texas Whiskey Worth Shouting About, quoting Chris Seals
“We're a grain-to-glass distillery. We make it all from scratch.”
- [3]
- [4]