Texas Certified Whiskey is having a moment. This is evident by the explosion of award-winning whiskies made in the longhorn state. It’s also evident by the emergence of a controlling body, the Texas Whiskey Association, which certifies that Texas spirits are actually Texas spirits.
A certified Texas whiskey distillery list to end all lists
Certified Texas Whiskey might be in a position to give Kentucky a run for their money. Along with Pennsylvania and New York, Texas is knocking out a collection of extraordinary bourbons, single malts, and ryes. However, not all the whiskey in Texas is created equally. Only a select group of producers can claim their product is a certified Texas whiskey. We thought it would be a good idea and a service to the community to round them all up in a single list.
Here’s our Texas distillery tour and a Texas trail map
We’ve divided differently than the Texas Whiskey Association’s choice of focussing on the classic four regions of Texas: Gulf Coast, Hill Country, North Texas, South Texas. Instead, we’ve divided texas by its various geographic and ecological distinctions: the panhandle, prairies and lakes, piney woods, gulf coast, hill country, big bend country, and the south Texas plains.
However, we added additional listings by major cities: so there is a Houston list, a Dallas list, and an Austin list. These aren’t different distilleries, just regrouping by major metropolitan areas to make your life easier.
Here they are, the complete list of certified Texas whiskey distilleries
PRAIRIES AND LAKES
BALCONES DISTILLING
Balcones filled their first bottle in 2009. They use blue corn from New Mexico and Texas-grown malted barley in mash bills they nurse like fragile babies to get their wildly flavorful whiskeys. If you haven’t had Baby Blue, you need to do yourself a favor and get on that, stat. Their Single Malt is the first Certified Texas Whiskey.
PINEY WOODS REGION
IRONROOT DISTILLING
The name Ironroot pays homage to a peculiar and quietly heroic Texan, Thomas Volney Munson, a horticulturist who saved the French viticulture industry in the 19th century when phylloxera threatened to destroy the entirety of their vineyards. Munson recommended Texas rootstock and it worked, showing yet another reason France is indebted to the U.S. Basically, every bottle of wine you buy from France is really from Texas. Ironroot is a Texas grain-to-glass distillery. Their Harbinger Bourbon was 2020’s World’s Best Bourbon. Click this button and witness one of the craziest mash bills on earth.
FORNEY
LONE ELM
Lone Elm uses Texas Red Wheat to give their whiskey a unique flavor and a hell of a color. They are a grain to glass distiller who sends their spent mash back to the local texas heart farmers for fertilizer, so they’re trying to be sustainable which is a decent damn thing to do. Their single barrel has won a ton of awards.
HILL COUNTRY
GARRISON BROTHERS
We’re not saying we’re biased here, but we do have a love-love relationship with Garrison Brothers. Cowboy Bourbon was your humble reporter’s first excursion into independent American Whiskey and I can still taste it, nearly a year after killing that bottle. See our interview with Dan Garrison.
STILL AUSTIN
Still Austin’s Straight Bourbon, the Musician, won double gold in the 2021 World Spirits competition but what’s really interesting is their Order of Nancy, a not-so-secret secret society of whiskey lovers associated with their brand.
MILAM & GREENE
Heather Greene is a legend among distillers in and outside Texas. Her work in the industry is well documented but to really understand it, you’ll need to grab yourself a bottle of their Rye whiskey and take a minute.
ANDALUSIA
Andalusia uses 100% malted barley to produce a peated American Single Malt whiskey finished in bourbon barrels. Featuring a beautiful label and a terrible website. They also offer Stryker, a single malt smoked with apple, oak, and mesquite which is the perfect wood combo for a great BBQ.
REAL SPIRITS
Real Spirits was born out of the Blanco Texas Real Ale brewery. Their spirits are made from their beer, a Belgian style tripel and a heavy Scotch ale the brewery has become famous for.
TREATY OAK
Ghost Hill Texas Bourbon is made from heirloom grains grown on and around Ghost Hill Ranch where the distillery produces its spirits. They also make Day Drinker Bourbon and a bottled Old Fashioned.
SPIRIT OF TEXAS PFLUGER SINGLE MALT
This American Single Malt sits on top of a pile of awards. Made with 80/20 mash of malted barley and rye. It’s a smooth, delicious sippin’ whiskey from a place you’ve never heard of, even though it is home to noted author and Arachnophile, Wayne Allen Brenner.
SOUTH TEXAS PLAINS
RANGER CREEK
Ranger Creek’s names its whiskies after various calibers of ammunition. Their Small Calibre series include .36 Bourbon, .44 Rye, .36 White Whiskey, and Rimfire Single Malt. Rimfire is a unique American Single Malt smoked with mesquite instead of peat.
MAVERICK
A good sippin’ whiskey si smooth. Maverick’s Barrel Proof Straight Bourbon Whiskey made it onto our “smoothest whiskies” post because it is velvety and smooth. But that doesn’t mean it’s light on flavor. Maverick’s Kevin Graham does some kind of Texas voodoo when he makes this bourbon because, for an easy-drinking whiskey, it smells and tastes like a cake factory that’s on fire.
GULF COAST
TAHWAHKARO
Tah offers one of the craziest bottles on the shelf. Not that they need any help distinguishing their multi-award-winning bourbon from other spirits. Tah may be hard to find outside of Texas but it’s good enough that maybe you’ll want to move there.
MKT
MKT makes a corn whiskey aged in bourbon barrels then proofed down with water from Katy, where they’re located. I’m going to levy a petit critique at MKT because they have the worst website in the world. But people rave about their whiskey and it is a Certified Texas Whiskey so one hopes they’ll fix their ^%$%#@ website and get right.
SHIRE
I’m suspicious of Shire Distilling because they make a cinnamon bourbon and that’s just Fireball with a horse on the label. I’m not a fan of hot whiskies and I wish this trend would die out quickly. But their Percheron bourbon is fine, as is their Shire Oak all of them made from pure Texas stuff.
GIANT
That is a beautiful bottle and apparently a beautiful Rye too. Giant also makes a 100 proof straight bourbon that comes in a regular bottle, though after looking at one of their ‘pot still’ bottles, I don’t know why you’d want to.
