THE BARREL NERDS

Oh that’s a story,” said Gabe RiCharde, spirits manager at Balcones, when asked about the first barrels the distillery filled. Long story short, they found out their cooper was buying barrels from Mexico, and they went directly to the source for five-gallon barrels.

“They were taking full-sized barrels, shaving down the toast and char layer and making a new barrel, but what we realized was that this oak was really, really old. We were getting barrels that were made to age Kentucky Bourbon, then travelled to Mexico to age Tequila, then were used again to age Mexican brandy. Then, those barrels were stripped and made into a new barrel. Basically, the wood was seasoned as hell.”

It’s no wonder that Baby Blue, the original Texas whiskey, initially had a bit of a Tequila vibe to it. And since Balcones has