What do you get when you mix two entrepreneurial Texas boys, a thirst for fresh-brewed sweet tea and premium vodka? Deep Eddy Sweet Tea Vodka. Austinites Clayton Christopher (founder of the cult fave Sweet Leaf Tea) and Chad Auler (who created Savvy Vodka; his parents own Fall Creek Vineyards) have the know-how to trump iced-tea vodka wannabes who pump high-fructose syrup and artificial flavors into their spiked sweet-tea taste-alikes. Settling for nothing less than the real deal, this duo brews up black Indonesian whole-leaf tea, then sweetens it with Austin’s Good Flow Honey and pure cane sugar from Sugar Land. They bottle their tea concentrate with a handmade vodka that’s been distilled 10 times through a column still. The result, Deep Eddy, is named after the famed Austin swimming hole; a portion of the proceeds from each bottle sold helps keep the fresh spring pool going. Drink Deep Eddy Sweet Tea over ice with a splash of sparkling water, club soda or even Sprite. Or sip it like we do, as an Arnold Palmer with chilled lemonade. At $21 a bottle, expect to see pop-up parties all over the state as the guys set out to dominate the sweet-tea vodka market. At fine liquor stores.
Images: Deep Eddy Sweet Tea Vodka. Clayton Christopher and Chad Auler. Photos by Chad Harlan.
What do you get when you mix two entrepreneurial Texas boys, a thirst for fresh-brewed sweet tea and premium vodka? Deep Eddy Sweet Tea Vodka.