Distillery
Balcones
Jared Himstedt was running a craft beer pub in Waco, Texas when a friend introduced him to single malt scotch. That curiosity grew into Balcones, founded in 2008 as a small operation that soon outgrew its space. Before Balcones, Texas whisky simply was not a thing. Rather than aging in climate-controlled warehouses, Balcones leans into the wild swings of Texas weather. Himstedt has pointed to days with 30 degree swings as key to the process. That kind of heat pushes the spirit in and out of the oak faster than traditional aging allows. The distillery uses Texas grown malted barley and roasted blue corn, producing American single malt, corn whisky, rye, and bourbon. The whisky has picked up more than 500 national and international awards. In 2022, Diageo acquired the distillery, a sign of how far Texas whisky has come since Balcones started it all.
