Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images for NYCWFF
Save it for your Moscow mules, okay?
Tito’s vodka might be “handmade,” but it’s not made for your hands. The social media team at the Austin-based vodka maker — which is the top-selling spirit in America — is working overtime on Twitter today, forced to repeatedly explain that its product is not a suitable substitute for hand sanitizer — it just smells like it would be.
The confusion arises amid a shortage of hand sanitizer as concerned members of the public attempt to protect against the spread of the novel coronavirus. That lack of supply has led to price gouging for hand sanitizer online: a box of small Purell bottles that might sell for $10 typically are now listed for hundreds from secondary sellers on Amazon. It’s also led to DIY advice and online recipes for homemade hand sanitizers, most of which call for rubbing alcohol (99 percent alcohol by volume) plus aloe vera gel.
Tito’s, meanwhile, is actually just 40 percent alcohol by volume, not the 60 percent required to kill viruses. As Dallas Morning News reporter Dom DiFurio noted, the company will probably have to keep Tweeting ad nauseam while people on Twitter threaten to “get me a handle of @TitosVodka and make some hand sanitizer for my family.”
“Per the CDC, hand sanitizer needs to contain at least 60% alcohol by volume,” Tito’s writes soberly in reply after reply, attaching an explanation for added clarity.
Per the CDC, hand sanitizer needs to contain at least 60% alcohol. Tito's Handmade Vodka is 40% alcohol, and therefore does not meet the current recommendation of the CDC. Please see attached for more information. pic.twitter.com/96uldE8uMe
— TitosVodka (@TitosVodka) March 4, 2020
Per the CDC, hand sanitizer needs to contain at least 60% alcohol. Tito's Handmade Vodka is 40% alcohol, and therefore does not meet the current recommendation of the CDC. Please see attached for more information. pic.twitter.com/3gS4Cv92Xn
— TitosVodka (@TitosVodka) March 4, 2020
“As soon as we saw the incorrect articles and social posts, we wanted to set the record straight,” a representative for Tito’s tells Eater. “While it would be good for business for our fans to use massive quantities of Tito’s for hand sanitizer, it would be a shame to waste the good stuff, especially if it doesn’t sanitize...”
Tito’s has clung fast to its roots as a distiller of the craft spirit good stuff, but these days the brand is more of an industrial product than anything else. “Based on the sheer quantity of Tito’s output... its vodka is almost certainly made by re-distilling pre-made grain neutral spirit, or GNS, an industrial high-proof alcohol produced in massive distilleries by large agribusiness firms,” Tammie Teclemariam explained on Eater last year in a profile of Tito’s. And since grain neutral spirits are typically 95 percent ABV, maybe Tito’s should start selling its base spirit in soap dispensers.
• No, you can’t use Tito’s Vodka to make homemade hand sanitizer [DMN]
• How ‘Handmade’ Is America’s Most Popular Vodka? [Eater]
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