78. TX Bourbon - Firestone & Robertson Distilling Co.

Welcome to another trip down the Bourbon Road with your hosts, Jim and Mike. So grab a glass of your favorite bourbon and kick back.

Welcome back for another installment of Craft Distillery Monday here on the Bourbon Road. We would like to thank our friends at Premium Bar Products for sponsoring this episode. If you're ready to step up your game at your home bar, check out premiumbarproducts.com to choose from their wide selection of glassware, all of which can be custom engraved with your personal message or logo. And there's no minimum order. So after the episode, head over to premiumbarproducts.com and check out everything they have to offer. Now let's get on with the show. Hello everybody, I'm Jim Shannon. I'm Mike Hyatt. And this is the Bourbon Road and Monday Night Craft Distillery Review.

Yeah, hell yeah. Right here at Jeff the Bin Farm. Got Woodrow the Whiskey Dog.

I see your sign up there. It says, I work hard so my dog can have a better life. That's pretty funny Mike.

Yeah. Hey, that's isn't that the truth, right? What are always uh, he is my sidekick my companion he is he's I'll call him my best friend cuz my wife's my best friend, but I'd say He's a close second.

Yeah, he's a good dog Yeah, I had to run my dog to the vet today cuz he got kicked by a horse. She she she got killed by a horse. Yeah, I

Well, Woodrow's over here just laying down and one of our listeners, Adam, sent him a wilderness chairl dog toy. He's over here chewing on that thing right now.

Woodrow says, thank you, Adam. So Mike, what do we have on the table today?

So we've got Firestone and Robertson's distilling company, their TX bourbon. You can find this at Total Wine, Liquor Bar, and you can find it almost anywhere now.

So TX, the letters TX, this stands for Texas, right?

Yeah. This is a Texas straight bourbon whiskey, 90 proof. It's four years old. And Jim, guess what? What? It's a weeded, weeded bourbon.

Oh boy. Old Big Chief is ready to go.

Hell yeah, I am. So they were founded in 2010, the first craft distillery up in North Texas. They are the biggest, what they say right now, the biggest distillery west of the Mississippi.

Wow, really? Yeah. That's a big claim. Because we know Balconies is putting out a lot of juice, right?

They are, but Balconies is not as big as people would imagine. They don't have a whole lot of, this place has a whiskey ranch. I mean, and it's on the grounds of an old golf course. So golf courses are pretty big. So I can imagine they have some rickhousing. This is one of the places I wanted to go is just kind of,

it just kind of slipped me by so the expression so the brand i guess the brand is tx tx and the and the distillery name is something robertson and firestone and robertson firestone robertson got it and this particular expression is kind of their their their average everyday bourbon

This is, you'd find this on any shelf right here. Okay. And I've got two of their expressions, this expression. And then I got a barrel proof in the house. And if you look back there, Jim, you can see I've been sucking down on that thing quite a bit. I can see that half a bottle now. Um, I like it. It's a good weeded bourbon. Um, you know, I pride myself in trying to have as many weeded bourbons as possible. Can't be the we the king of Kentucky without weeded bourbon.

Absolutely. So at four years old, from Texas. This is a well-aged bourbon.

Yeah. It's not as dark as I would think it would be, but it's, it's got some good color on it.

Yeah.

Well let's, let's check it out.

Yeah, let's do it. Oh, that's got a nice nose on it. I get some nuttiness out of that.

I get a little bit of maple maple syrup, maple syrup.

Wow. So this is a four year, four years old. Yeah. It definitely smells, it knows is like an older bourbon. I'm getting the oak caramel, but mostly that maple syrup.

Yeah. And now let's just say that I could get that maple syrup or I can get some cinnamon out of it. A little bit of floral coming out on it.

Yeah. It's like, uh, it smells like, uh,

hot buttered pancakes with real maple syrup poured over them. Everybody, if you hear some noise rattling around, Woodrow's got that whiskey toy. He's just, he's going down.

Yeah. We were thanking you a minute ago, Adam. We might be, we might be cursing you here in a second. If Woodrow starts getting that thing to squeak, he'll be fine. Let's taste it. Let's do it.

I get a little bit of fig in that.

Yeah, that sweetness, that sweetness is, so you get that in the nose, that maple sweetness, you get it right up front on the palate as well, but it's kind of fighting that rice spice on the back. Yeah, but this doesn't have any rye in it though. Okay. So it's fighting that spice on the back. That barrel spice maybe? Yeah, that barrel spice on the back. I said rice spice. I should have thought about that for a minute, but yeah. I'm getting some brown sugar out of that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm getting baking spices on this one. Kind of like a banana nut bread, a little bit of, but without no banana bread, banana bread, banana bread, not banana nut bread. Cause I'm not getting a lot of nut in that, but I am getting the banana bread.

Yeah. This is pretty well balanced right here.

So as you're, as you're tasting that and it's a great sweetness, this has a wonderful sweetness to it. But I'd like that sweetness just to continue, just continue and continue and continue. But it kind of gets offset a little bit by that spiciness on the back end.

But man, I'll tell you what, that finish just keeps going. Oh, it's well, I think it's well balanced. Yeah. Smooth, warm. I'm surprised at the spice on the back end. Yeah. I didn't think it would have this much spice, especially for a dining proof. It drinks a little hotter than that, I think. Quite delicious though.

Yeah, that's a fine bourbon. I'm not getting a whole lot of oak in it, you know? There are a little bit of tannins on the back end though. I can get that. Wow, this is very respectable.

Yeah, I'm glad my home state has decided to put some whiskey out. And I'd say, man, every time I've been surprised by it, how well they're doing down there.

Now you were saying something about their yeast. You said that they isolated their yeast from a single pecan shell?

From a pecan tree, I guess, or from pecans. And a lot of people don't, when you think of Texas, you don't think pecans. But when I was growing up on our ranch, we had a bunch of pecan bottoms. And, uh, pecans, they're native to Texas. They're smaller, a harder shell pecan. They're not that soft shell pecan. And, uh, San Sabbath, Texas is actually the pecan capital of Texas. And they got, they're doing something great down there, but they, I guess they captured the yeast from that, from a pecan tree or from a pecan, pecan nut or something.

Oh, that's really cool though. So that's kind of their unique take on things. Now their mash bill is a completely 100% Texas raw materials.

Yeah, it's, uh, all Texas, you know, he corn, their wheat, um, their winter red winter wheat, I think is what they're using up there in North Texas. I think that's pretty prevalent. Um, some people will grow wheat down on the coastal plains and stuff, but if you, uh, driving around Texas in the winter time, you'll see that that red winter wheat is a cover crop. Got it.

Now these guys did not supply us a bottle.

Well, you know, it'd be in Texas guy pickups and wheat. Yeah. And then you know, it's wheat. Then you're definitely going to see me pick up a bottle of it. Beautiful bottle. It's kind of that it's not a stag bottle. It's, it's their own design and the cap on it is pretty neat too. Now I was talking earlier, the caps hard to get out on those rubber cat, you know, the cork rubber cork. That's kind of hard to get out, but the cap on top of the cap has a piece of used leather and it's kind of pressed into that cap.

So it's on the outside.

The liquid's not touching. The liquid's not touching. But they've taken old boots and reused that and punched out a piece of leather and put on there. And so each cap might be different.

Yeah, I've seen, I've seen kind of there on their website, they've got a picture of a cowboy with a saddle bag and there's a bottle of this hanging out of his saddle bag. So they got that Western kind of.

Yeah, I don't know if I'm digging the big TX on the front. I, you know, I wouldn't say it's cartoony. I just, I don't like that.

That's just me though.

Hey, it definitely sticks out. Um, you see TX, but, uh, I didn't know why they went with us against the Firestone or Robertson distillery. You kind of got to search that out on the bottle.

It's kind of funny. You know, I think about, you know, how many Texas distilleries they are in there and there's a lot of Texas distilleries, but, I've never heard of these guys until you introduced me to them. So this is, I guess they're, they're not, I mean, they're making a lot of liquid. But is it not on the shelves everywhere?

I think it's in all 50 States, Jim. But why have I missed it? Well, we live out in Simpsonville.

Yeah, I guess maybe just our liquor stores aren't carrying it.

So yeah, I think if you go into a total wine or liquor bar and you might find a bottle of it and it's, it's definitely in Kentucky. I got these bottles of Texas though, the two I have, you know, I was down there and you know, when you're driving down the road and you see a liquor store for some reason, the truck pulls itself into a liquor store. It's just, you have no control over it. I don't know what happens. It just, my son was kind of surprised when we were driving down, you know, we're driving down some back Texas roads and I passed a couple of liquor stores and he was like, Hey, liquor store back there. Which meant, I thought, hey, why don't you stop and buy me a bottle, dad? So, yeah. I would buy this all day long, Jim. Yeah. So you've had the barrel proof of this as well. I do. That's the bottle that's half empty. We just opened this bottle up today to try. I hadn't had this right here. The barrel proof though is even better.

So this is maple syrup for me. Maple syrup with a right kick. There's no rye in it. I get that. I understand. But it's got that spice kick on the back end. I think the finish on it is medium to long. Medium to long. I'd say that too. Congratulations guys. I think you've done a great bourbon here. I think it's, this is straight Texas bourbon whiskey, four year old. 90 proof and it drinks like a hundred proof.

You ever had a praline pecan praline? I have, yes. That's what I'm getting out of this.

Yeah, I can see that Mike.

Just. I'm out.

I need more.

You need more?

That's a good sign when Jim Shannon says, I need another glass of that. Well, because the finish is going and going and I want more. I don't want it to stop. So well, let's pour you another pour.

Woodrow Woodrow's driving me crazy right now. He's he's definitely our whiskey dog. So would this be a buy for you, Jim?

Yeah, this is definitely a buy. Um, in fact, if I see it the next time I'm out, I'm going to pick it up. No doubt about it. I think this is a, it's a fantastic pour.

You know, they say on the bottle, I'm sitting here reading it dark fruit, sweet spice and caramel.

I'm going to say maple syrup, baking spice. And it's not pepper. It's not black pepper, but it's kind of a, it definitely is a rice spice. So yeah, I think it's really good. Leonard Firestone and Troy Robertson distillers, Fort Worth, Texas frdistilling.com.

Have you ever been to Fort Worth?

You know, I have it one time or another. I just don't recall.

That's a beautiful little city really to visit some great barbecue up there. Another great thing you can do there is the Fort Worth stockyards. They actually do a cattle drive through the main streets there. And then you can go to the Fort Worth rodeo and right downtown Fort Worth. Just a beautiful place to visit. I think you can see the Dallas skyline in the view.

Well, Mike, the next time that you and I are in Texas together, I'm sure you'll be back there again on your own, but next time you and I are in Texas together, we need to stop in at this distillery. No doubt about it. Very impressed.

So this, I think this bottle was, um, 39.99, I believe what the price was.

Well, you know, that would be, that would be very affordable compared to what, you know, craft distilleries have to charge today on a bottle. I would say anywhere between 40 and $50 on this bottle would be a fair price.

I don't really know if they're, you know, they say they're the largest distillery there, but I do know Gulf Shores. or down in Houston is a gigantic distillery and they're actually making a giant bourbon is what they call it. So, but hey, these guys are pumping out some great juice right here. I would, uh, I'm going to buy another bottle of it for sure if I see it again.

Yeah. And the one thing that got on their competition is they have an absolute unique yeast of their own. Nobody else has it. It's their yeast.

Yeah. We have a yeast specialists. We can ask about that. I don't know the science of how you capture yeast. Do you? You're the science guy.

Yeah, I don't, but I would imagine that as long as you can get one cell, and get it to multiply. You can take that one cell and make as many as you want.

So eventually, um, I mean, isn't it how Jim beam got their wild yeast strain? Yeah, I don't know. Yeah. I don't know enough about, you know, I'm not a, I'm just burping bullshit.

It sounds like you're going down that path right now.

I don't know enough about it to, uh, even to bullshit about it. I don't even, I don't know.

All right, well, I think everybody gets it. Thumbs up for TX Bourbon, huh?

Yeah, I can't say enough good about those guys and gals there. I definitely think it'll be a distillery in the future. We'll have to sit down with them and visit.

All right, where can everybody find us, Mike?

So you can find us on social media at YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at The Bourbon Road. We actually have a Facebook group called The Bourbon Roadies.

And it is a private group. You have to answer a few questions to join. But hey, it's real easy. Are you 21? Do you like bourbon? And do you know what you're getting yourself into here? And once you're in, we just ask you to play nice and share your bourbon stories, your bourbon pictures. Hell, share your bourbon because we all like bourbon and we all like to share each other's bourbon. We also put out two episodes a week. We have this episode, which you're listening to now, which is our Craft Distillery Monday episode. We also put out an episode every Wednesday, which is an hour in length or something thereabouts. Usually an interview with a craft distillery or distiller or a bourbon personality, but sometimes it's just Mike and I trying something new or doing something special. We like to travel. That's why we're called the Bourbon Road. We do get out on the road when we visit people. A little bit tougher now though, Mike.

It is. I think it is tough, but we're trying. We actually got some pretty special trips we're trying to plan. Our wives are actually trying to plan those. But if you're listening to this episode and you like what you hear, please leave us a review. Those reviews help us get into distilleries. Like us on Facebook, like us on Instagram. All that stuff helps us open those doors up. You can find me at one big chief on Instagram.

I'm jshannon63 and we will see you on down the Bourbon road. We do appreciate all of our listeners and we'd like to thank you for taking time out of your day to hang out with us here on the Bourbon road. We hope you enjoyed today's show, and if so, we would appreciate if you'd subscribe and rate us a five star with a review on iTunes. Make sure you follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, at The Bourbon Road. That way you'll be kept in the loop on all The Bourbon Road happenings. You can also visit our website at thebourbonroad.com to read our blog, listen to the show, or reach out to us directly. We always welcome comments or suggestions, and if you have an idea for a particular guest or topic, be sure to let us know. And again, thanks for hanging out with us.