![]() And that’s exactly what he fermented to create Rumble. ![]() When an inspector from the state alcohol regulator showed up, he expressed his amazement: He had never set foot inside a whiskey distillery.įor Balcones’ first release, Tate drew inspiration from a dessert sauce of raw sugar, honey and figs he had served at a dinner party. He gutted the structure, rebuilt the interior and gave it a new roof. To launch Balcones- named after the fault that bisects Texas and provides the area with a source of drinking water from bountiful natural springs-Tate raised $100,000 in start-up capital, and a real estate buddy found him the shack under the bridge. In the late 1990s, it was Beveridge who successfully lobbied the state to allow the legal operation of small distilleries. A half century later, the legacy of Prohibition prevented the development of any grand Texas liquor tradition, and while Tate isn’t keen on becoming the next Tito’s Vodka (made in nearby Austin), he wouldn’t be in business if not for its founder, Tito Beveridge. In 1885, a young pharmacist named Charles Alderton began selling a flavorful soda from his downtown drug store he named the new drink Dr Pepper. The idea of creating potions isn’t unknown in Waco. A thick, if rudimentary, handbook called Whiskey: Technology, Production and Marketing became his bible instruction at the Bruichladdich distillery on whiskey-making fundamentals, one meant for prospective brand ambassadors, was newfound gospel. With a wink and a nudge, Tate will admit that some initial experiments–presumably moonshine made at his Waco home–led him to believe he could make it as a legitimate distiller. The collapse of his marriage in 2008 gave Tate the freedom to turn his avocation into his occupation he'd been an enrollment administrator at Baylor but always dreamed of leaving the ivory tower for the copper still. Even today he will lecture at length about the many variations of crusty French bread and the grand traditions of Parisian boulangers. After college, when he wasn't debating The Big Questions as a Union Presbyterian Seminary student in Richmond, he brewed beer or baked. As a child in rural Virginia, he made explosives: bottle rockets and tennis-ball cannons. He has long been fascinated by mixing different ingredients. Today there are 623 across the country, one in every state.īut it is also a result of the 39-year-old Tate’s personal story as a pioneer. ![]() Just 68 craft distillers existed a decade ago. So how did Balcones rise to the top of the whiskey world in just six years? In part, the distillery’s success is due to America’s love affair with all things artisanal. Moreover, the win showed that the finest new whiskey in the world doesn’t come from Scotland or Japan or Bourbon County, but from under a bridge in Waco. The underdog victory was reminiscent of the so-called “Judgment of Paris,” a 1976 blind taste test in which California Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay for the first time defeated a slew of French wineries. Balcones was the first American distiller to capture the highest honor, defeating such venerable brands as Johnnie Walker, Macallan and Balvenie. Balcones’ arrival was first heralded by its distiller-of-the-year awards in 2012 (from Whisky Magazine and the Craft Distillers’ Association) and then by the single malt’s first-place finish in the 2012 Best in Glass competition, a British contest that names the best whisky released each year.
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