Texas Style
By Donna Long
Photos Courtesy of Black Eyed vodka
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here is a new kid on the block in the vodka neighborhood, and this unusual vodka is making heads turn. What makes Black Eyed Vodka unique from others? This ultra-premium smooth vodka is made from black-eyed peas; Black Eyed Distillery is the only known distiller in the world that uses black-eyed peas. Looking For Something Unique In 2016 best friends Todd Gregory and Scott Billings were looking for an investment. One was retiring, and the other was tired of the hectic Dallas commute and corporate life. They wanted a change. They wanted something unique, something that embodied who they are. They found it in Black Eyed Vodka, a small floundering distillery that was started by a mother and son in an effort to save their black-eyed pea crop from the drought. The Creation Most vodkas are predominantly corn-based followed closely by wheat, potatoes, then grapes. LINKS & LIBATIONS
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Black Eyed Vodka’s main ingredient is black-eyed peas with a small mixture of non-GMO corn. Corn is the most efficient when it comes to converting starch into sugar, but it is the peas that give it a smooth, gentle texture with a genuinely unique mild flavor. “I can remember the first time tasting it. It was just this nirvana moment. It was original. It hadn’t been done before” - Todd Gregory With a background and childhood history of growing up in the farming community of Texas, Todd insists on using pure ingredients directly from Texas farmers. The peas are from various farmers north of Lubbock in the Texas Panhandle and milled by a fourth-generation family with a mill. The same family also supplies the distillery with milled non-GMO corn. Because both peas and corn are gluten-free, the result is a 100% non-GMO gluten-free Texas sourced vodka.