Time to paws Petsonality as Tito’s Handmade Vodka unleashes support for The Moodie Blog

by Martin Moodie |
The following two tabs change content below.

Martin Moodie

Martin Moodie is the Founder & Chairman of The Moodie Report.

Almost six years ago I wrote in this very Blog how The Moodie Davitt Report HQ had received some intriguing product samples that made us paws for thought on the eve of Chinese New Year.

It was a bad pun rather than a typo, my way of introducing the quirky way Tito’s Handmade Vodka was celebrating the Chinese Year of the Dog.

The idiosyncratic Texan brand was marking the occasion by presenting its bottles in duty free cased in red cloth gift bags adorned with a dog drawing (of a dog, not by a dog I hasten to point out).

It was a lovely touch as was the gift pack received at (then) Moodie Davitt HQ, which also housed a gleaming new dog bowl and even a Tito’s dog lead.

As both a dog lover and a publisher who’s been following up good leads for decades, this naturally appealed to me. The bowl also appealed to my former pet Labrador Mickali who proceeded to eat her meals out of it with great relish (chutney and piccalilli were her favourites).

I take you on this journey down memory lane as way of introduction to The Moodie Blog’s new sponsor for 2025, the very same Tito’s Handmade Vodka. Next year is the Year of the Snake rather than the Year of the Dog – that won’t be until 2030 – but that hasn’t stopped Tito’s from partnering with us, making it the Year of the Blog as well as the Year of the Snake.

There’s a great story behind Tito’s association with dogs. The brand has for good reason become renowned as the Vodka for Dog People. Founder Bert ‘Tito’ Beveridge (the best name for a drinks company founder one could imagine), who had a beloved canine companion called DogJo, noted the plight of stray dogs at the site of his new distillery in Austin, Texas when establishing Tito’s Handmade Vodka in 1997.

Since then, Tito’s has rescued over 130 distillery dogs and supported thousands of animal-focused non-profits in Austin and beyond. A prime example was a US$65,000 gift to animal-assisted therapy provider Hand in Paw, whose dogs and handlers provide comfort and affection to people in hospitals, retirement homes, hospice care and schools.

For the past two and a half years Tito’s has underlined its love of dogs by sponsoring one of our most popular columns, Tito’s Petsonality Profiles, where readers got up close and personal with a fascinating array of pet-sonalities, while also discovering the real affection in which they are held by their familiar travel retail identities.

Through the column, Tito’s Handmade Vodka and The Moodie Davitt Report promoted the work of brokenbiscuits.org, the world’s first disabled animal centre.

Meet Lennon the Schapendoes and Frank Cortes

With Tito’s reallocating its partnership investment to The Moodie Blog, Petsonality Profiles will now be consigned to a quirky place in industry history (unless another canine-focused brand picks it up).

However, our archive and search engine will always remain publishing shrines to the unforgettable likes of Lennon the Schapendoes (owned by Frank Cortes); Spike the Golden Retriever (Sunil Tuli); Oliver Plunkett Pearse Roache the Cabachon (ARI’s Deidre Roache); and (the perfectly pawed) Guinness, a mix of Bichon Frisé, Poodle (and a few more besides) much beloved by Dubai Duty Free Senior Vice President Marketing Sinéad El Sibai.

And who could forget Taxi, the rescue dog of Essence Corp’s Antoine Bona, which once, oblivious to the fact she was tied to a barstool decided to chase after a bird outside Monty’s Miami Beach Bar?

The sight and sound of an industry executive yelling “Taxi!” while chasing a chair-dragging dog of the same name down the street is surely one for my unofficial history of the travel retail world.

Taxi (wide receiver) tunes into a Miami Heat game with the Bona family

Tito’s support of The Moodie Davitt Report has been constant since our very early days, for which I thank Tito’s Handmade Vodka International Managing Director John McDonnell.

John has also been an ardent and generous supporter of Smile Train, a cause close to my heart, over many years.

So I, and you my dear readers, are in good company as this column prepares to enter its 19th year.

Thank you John. Petsonality may be taking a paws but along with Tito’s, the Vodka for Dog People, The Moodie Blog is set for a new leash of life. ✈