By Anastasia Megdanis
If you are a fan of whiskey, bourbon, or road trips, your next destination should be Firestone & Robertson Distilling Co.’s Whiskey Ranch in Fort Worth — the largest whiskey distillery west of the Mississippi River.
Firestone & Robertson Distilling Co. was the first craft bourbon and whiskey distillery in North Texas started by Co-proprietors and Distillers Leonard Firestone and Troy Robertson. Since their first release in 2012 and the TX Bourbon release in 2016, F&R Distillery Co.’s spirits have won numerous awards. Their TX Blended Whiskey and TX Bourbon Whiskey are now available in 14 states and all around Texas, including many locations in Bryan College Station.
In November 2017, Firestone and Robertson opened Whiskey Ranch on the 112-acre former Glen Garden Country Club golf course. This addition to production and new entertainment space makes F&R Distilling Co. the largest whiskey distillery west of the Mississippi. The Whiskey Ranch is five miles from downtown Fort Worth.
Visitors will want to taste this unique Texas whiskey, and soon tours will offer a behind-the-scenes peek at the facilities and the whiskey making process.
“We designed the distillery to be very tour-friendly; every part of the process is exhibited to our guests which is kind of unusual for a whiskey distillery,” says Firestone. “Because we designed it from scratch, we could work with visitors in mind, whereas a lot of the old distilleries just don’t have that opportunity because people weren’t thinking that way 100 years ago.”
When guests tour, they will be able to better understand the mastery and detail that goes into the distilling process. “Whiskey is a very broad category; it’s sort of an overarching category for [grain-based, barrel-aged] spirits,” says Robertson. “So, a bourbon is a type of whiskey, just as blended whiskey and scotch are other types of whiskey.”
The TX Blended Whiskey is created from different styles of whiskey that have differing taste characteristics. Firestone and Robertson wanted to find a balance of those styles to create a unique taste specific to their brand.
When it comes to distilling the TX Bourbon, Firestone and Robertson note that the process is more specific. “In the United States, there is a federal organization that requires you to use specific methods to make certain styles of whiskey, one of them is Bourbon which is a protected category,” says Firestone. “To be able to label a product ‘Bourbon,’ it must be: made in the United States of America, made with at least 51 percent corn, and aged in a new charred oak barrel.”
What also makes F&R Distilling Co.’s TX Bourbon so unique is the sources of their ingredients. Most of their grains are grown in Hillsboro, not far from Whiskey Ranch, by Sawyer Farms who works with F&R to maintain grain quality.
“We went through a lot of testing and trials, but we made it into something that we personally would want to drink,” says Firestone.
You may be able to pick up a bottle right here in B/CS, but a road trip to the Whiskey Ranch offers a unique experience into the distilling process. So, as the days get longer and hotter, add the largest whiskey distillery west of the Mississippi to your bucket list. For more information about the Firestone & Robertson Distilling Co., visit www.frdistilling.com.
