The Best-Selling Vodka Brand In America Beats All Others By A Mile

There's one country in particular that we associate with vodka: Russia. Close your eyes and imagine a bottle of the spirit, and you may very well picture a brand like Stolichnaya; you take a shot and you can practically hear a men's choir belting out "Song of the Volga Boatmen." Though vodka is made all over the globe, from Australia to Sweden, the country that exports the most vodka in the world, the biggest vodka brand in the United States is Tito's. The Austin-based company passed Smirnoff some time ago to become the most popular vodka brand in the country. (Smirnoff still has the edge globally, however.)

In 2024, Tito's easily took the top spot for vodka in America, selling 12 million cases, according to data from Impact Databank (via Market Watch). Smirnoff came in as a distant second with 7.9 million cases, while New Amsterdam, Svedka, and Absolut sold 5.3, 3.45, and 2.68 million cases, respectively. 

In 2018, Tito's sold over a million bottles of vodka a week, and the trend line has only gone up. Its popularity may be because it's sold as "handmade" (which we'll get to in a moment), but it might also be because it's affordable — a liter bottle goes for a little over $25, which is more than Smirnoff but less than Grey Goose or Ketel One. It's definitely a cheap vodka worth buying.

Tito's began as a hobby for a man from Austin, Texas, named Bert "Tito" Beveridge. (Yes, his last name is pronounced "beverage." Score one for nominative determinism.) He started making homemade vodka infusions and giving them to friends before learning how to distill small batches of vodka using a pot still. After running into some regulatory issues, he finally received a distilling permit and officially went into business in 1997. 

For the grain, Beveridge went with corn rather than wheat or potatoes, as the heavily subsidized maize would be both tasty and inexpensive. It also has the benefit of being gluten-free. Tito's Vodka is distilled six times — it is quite smooth and does not include any flavorings.

Today, Beveridge is one of the richest men in the United States with a fortune between $7 and $9 billion. We suppose it won't break his heart to hear that his vodka attracted some scrutiny. Tito's been hit with multiple lawsuits claiming that the vodka is in no way handmade, which, well, of course it isn't. The distillery is pumping out millions of bottles. Unless Tito's is exclusively staffed by octopi, there's no way for it to be completely handmade. (Or tentacle-made, we guess.) According to Slate, lawyers for Tito's argued that the term "handmade" was "mere puffery" and not meant to be taken literally, much like how anyone can say they sell the world's best so-and-so — the matter was settled out of court.