Tahoe Blue Vodka Founder Hoping For More Green

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA -- Matt Levitt has free-flowing dreams of Tahoe Blue Vodka spreading across the San Francisco Bay Area -- and why not? After all, in the land where business dreams begin in garages and apartment-rental living rooms, Levitt's territory expansion out of a 3,500 square-foot distillery in the Silicon Valley is fitting for a guy who started out the business in the back seat of his car.

With his water source in Lake Tahoe, the Essential Spirits distillery on Whisman Road in Mountain View and bottling company in Sparks, Nev., Levitt wants to enhance his small-batch operation from its current-year production of 15,000 cases amounting to 80,000 bottles. He now sells the special, unflavored vodka to some Raley's, Bev Mo, Costco, Safeway and Total Wines stores from Redding to Monterey and would like to offer it in independent shops.

"Our next frontier for us is the Bay Area," he told Patch. "I want to make Tahoe Blue a household name in Northern California."

Who could deny this entrepreneur who has perfected the Sierra Nevada lake's award-winning namesake liquor with water the federal government has spent millions of dollars on to keep pristine.

Remember: "whiskey's -- (in this case vodka's) - for drinking and water's for fighting over," as historian and author Mark Twain so eloquently coined.

Levitt plans to call on corporate headquarters and spearhead partnerships with sporting enterprises such as the San Francisco Giants and 49ers.

The recipe itself is something to brag about: two parts sugarcane, one part each grape and corn. The combination has captured awards at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, Los Angeles International Wine & Spirits Competition and Ultimate Spirits Challenge in New York, among others. It's been featured in cocktail contests, as a health-conscious substitute to most alcohols, touting the distinction of being wheat- and gluten-free.

"This vodka embodies the lifestyle of Tahoe," he said. The Lake Tahoe region is known to spawn athletes and those seeking a healthy way of life.

Levitt knows all about that. In 2000, he left a Maryland college where he graduated with a business major and decided to "see the country" and crossed it thinking it would be an out-and-back trip. Like a lot of people, he reacted dramatically upon crossing California. Lake Tahoe is split down the middle by the California-Nevada border.

"I first saw the lake and hit the brakes," he said. There was no turning back.

Levitt started the business on Leap Day -- Feb. 29, 2012. Suddenly, his vagabond nature turned into 16-hour days. Still, when he created Tahoe Blue, he envisioned "all things Tahoe" -- boating, skiing, sunsets and the leisure lifestyle. This is how a hard worker lives vicariously.

So the proverbial phrase "if I could bottle" something came true for this ambitious businessman with a penchant for the outdoors.

Word of this unique type of vodka is catching on, albeit slowly.

Jeff Parker at the Milpitas Bev Mo said Tahoe Blue has delivered better than expected sales from a smaller distillery.

"The fact that it's Tahoe made and has a nice package definitely makes that a selling point," Parker said, adding expanding into San Francisco would pose a good idea because "they like their craft liquors there."

Visit http://www.tahoebluevodka.com/.

--Image courtesy of Tahoe Blue Vodka