The better-than-Firefly Texas-only Sweet Tea Vodka has been mentioned on this blog for months, as you could snag some at the EndlessBeauty.com launch party, The Blondes vs. Brunettes 4th & Goal Gala, or any number of other events since SXSW in March, apparently it’s OFFICIALLY launching this month. Because, naturally, June is National Iced Tea Month AND the 75th Anniversary of Deep Eddy (the pool).
Anyway, Deep Eddy Sweet Tea Vodka is pretty special, since locals Chad Auler, 39 (founder of SAVVY Vodka and son of Fall Creek vineyard owners) and Clayton Christopher, 37 (founder of Sweet Leaf Tea) combined their talents to create a Sweet Tea Vodka made 100% in Texas:
Ingredients:
- Water from an aquifer deep beneath the Texas Hill Country
- 100% pure cane sugar from Sugarland, Texas (my birthplace!)
- Clover honey from Austin’s Good Flow Honey Co.
- Vodka distilled 10 times through a column still, which produces a much smoother spirit than the pot stills used by other sweet tea vodkas.
And what of the bathing lady the company uses as a logo? A vintage Deep Eddy Bathing Beach poster that features a woman in a red bathing suit sitting on the end of the Deep Eddy diving board, dipping her toes into the pool below, naturally.
Now, Deep Eddy is FAB with a splash of water and a squeeze of lemon. It’s also dangerous, because the vodka is so smooth you can’t really taste the alcohol.
Chad & Clayton’s faves are both iteration on the +water theme:
Chad’s 72 and Sunny (much closer to Aspen’s weather than Austin’s, Chad) is Deep Eddy Sweet Tea Vodka, lemon-flavored mineral water, and a wedge of fresh lemon
Clayton’s Deep Eddy Splash is Deep Eddy Sweet Tea Vodka and a splash of Topo Chico Agua Mineral.
Easy, simple, summer.
Deep Eddy Sweet Tea Vodka is available at Austin faves Hula Hut, Abel’s on the Lake, Guero’s, Cedar Door, Red’s Porch, Kung Fu Saloon, and The Ranch. It may also be found in select restaurants and liquor stores, including Specs and Twin Liquors, in Austin and other cities throughout the state. Deep Eddy Sweet Tea Vodka retails for $20.99 per 750 ml bottle.