Introducing: Build Your Texas Bar

At one time, it wasn’t possible to stock an entire home bar with only brands from Texas. Tito’s Vodka would have been among the lonely few bottles with the word “Texas” printed somewhere on the label, together with a margarita mix or two, and some fledgling hill country wines. 

That’s no longer the case. Today, dozens of Texas-based spirit brands now stand tall on liquor store shelves. All the essential spirits are represented, including vodkas, whiskeys, gins, tequilas, and rums. In addition, there are liqueurs and bitters and bloody mary mixes, and spirits that define traditional categories altogether. As this new series will reveal, it’s now possible to stock your home liquor cabinet entirely with Texas-based brands. 

We emphasize the phrase, “Texas-based.” Build Your Texas Bar is a series about patronage, and pride. It’s a guide to help you identify spirit brands that, one way or another, have roots in Texas. 

Some roots grow deeper than others. Bourbons like Garrison Brothers Texas Straight Bourbon, for example, owe nearly all of their production to activities in Texas, from farm to bottle. Other Texas whiskey brands, in contrast, buy their bourbon from Kentucky, and then mature it further here in Texas. The same can be said for many “Texas” vodkas, and of course all tequilas, by definition, are produced in Mexico, never in Texas. 

We’re including them all in the Build Your Texas Bar series. While their degree of Texas authenticity varies, all of the brands we’ll be highlighting share a common denominator: Texans are behind the effort. 

When it’s all said and done, Build Your Texas Bar will be the most comprehensive photo inventory of Texas spirit brands online. And, it will be a “living” series: as new brands are introduced, we’ll update the inventory with new photos and information.  

Our series begins next week, with Texas Vodkas. 

- N4SJ