Ep. 244: Jake Clements and the Texas Whiskey Festival Show Notes

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Jul 14

Texas Whiskey Festival: Jake Clements on Texas Whiskey, the Texas Whiskey Trail, and the Rise of a New American Whiskey Region

This episode takes us back to Texas, though not to a single producer.

Instead, I’m joined by Jake Clements, co-founder of the Texas Whiskey Festival, to talk about the festival itself, the growth of Texas whiskey, the challenge of defining a region while it is still evolving, and what happens when a whiskey festival becomes more than a night of samples.

Texas has come up on the podcast plenty of times over the years: Still Austin, Milam & Greene, Maverick, and a few others, with more on the way. But this conversation zooms out. Rather than focusing on one mash bill, one distillery, or one release, Jake and I get into the ecosystem: Texas distilleries, state liquor laws, the Texas Whiskey Association, the Texas Whiskey Trail, the Certified Texas Whiskey program, and the sheer difficulty of trying to explain a state where Houston, the Hill Country, the Panhandle, Austin, San Antonio, Dallas-Fort Worth, and far West Texas all operate under the same word: Texas.

And because this is whiskey, we did that while sipping the 2025 Garrison Brothers Cowboy Bourbon, which is absolutely not a beginner’s bourbon unless your beginner pour usually arrives wearing spurs and breathing fire.

Starting the Texas Whiskey Festival Before Texas Whiskey Was Obvious

The Texas Whiskey Festival began in 2018, but Jake’s path into it started with a simple idea: Texas was making whiskey, and people needed a place to taste it.

That may sound obvious now. It was not obvious then.

When Jake started planning the first Texas Whiskey Festival, he had event experience and an interest in whiskey, but he was still learning the landscape. As he talked to people, he kept running into the same response: “Texas makes whiskey?”

That moment turned the festival from a tasting event into something more important. It became a platform. The goal was not only to sell tickets, pour samples, and get people through the door. It was to show consumers, retailers, enthusiasts, and even some Texans that the state had a whiskey scene worth paying attention to.

The first year was not exactly a smooth corporate rollout. Jake put tickets on sale before every distillery had even committed, mostly because he had already paid for the venue and needed the event to become real. Dan Garrison was the first producer to jump in, and the rest followed from there. The Facebook event page took off organically in a way that now feels like a relic from another internet age, reaching numbers Jake says he could never buy today.

Sometimes the algorithm gives you a gift before turning into a haunted tollbooth.

Year One: A Texas Whiskey Event, Eleven Distilleries, and a Crowded Room

The first Texas Whiskey Festival was held at the Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin.

That feels appropriate in retrospect. This was not just a whiskey event. It was a Texas history event wearing a tasting glass.

There were 11 distilleries represented that first year, and the event sold to capacity. It was crowded, chaotic, and full of lessons. Some feedback was useful. Some was less so. One person wanted more non-whiskey drinking options, which is a bold complaint to bring to something called the Texas Whiskey Festival. Another thought the museum was not classy enough, which is a new and exciting standard for marble floors.

But the big lesson was clear: people wanted this.

By year two, the festival moved to Star Hill Ranch, a venue that sounds almost engineered in a lab for Texas whiskey: an old West-style town made from buildings brought in from around the state, set just outside Austin. It gave the festival room to grow and the kind of atmosphere that fit the whiskey, the cigars, the food, and the sense of discovery Jake wanted to create.

The Texas Whiskey Festival as a Family Reunion for Distillers

Over time, the Texas Whiskey Festival became more than a consumer event.

Jake describes it as a kind of family reunion for the Texas whiskey world, and that phrase kept coming up in the conversation because it fits. Distillers come not only to pour, but to see each other. They troubleshoot, compare notes, share bottles, talk shop, and reconnect.

That camaraderie did not happen by accident.

Jake has been intentional about creating spaces for it, including the distiller’s dinner the night before the festival. It is part catered dinner, part bottle share, part group therapy session for people who chose to make whiskey in a state that does not always make it easy.

That matters because not every whiskey region works this way. Some states have guilds but little real connection. Some producers share geography and not much else. Texas, at least through Jake’s eyes, has built something different. The state is enormous, the distilleries are spread out, and the laws are often maddening, but there is real effort being put into connection.

That effort shows up in collaborations, shared blends, panel discussions, and the simple fact that Texas distillers keep showing up for each other.

Texas Whiskey Was Not Inevitable

There is a funny assumption, partly because of Western movies and Texas mythology, that whiskey has always been part of the state’s identity.

It has, culturally. But as a modern legal distilling industry, Texas whiskey is young.

Garrison Brothers received its federal license in 2007 and its state license in 2008. Balcones followed close behind and was the first to get whiskey to market with Baby Blue. Those early producers helped define the first wave of Texas whiskey: bold, different, often intense, and very clearly not Kentucky.

But the modern Texas whiskey industry has grown dramatically since then. When Jake was first planning the festival, there were far fewer producers to call. Today, Texas has dozens of whiskey distilleries, a much broader spirits landscape, and enough variety that the idea of one Texas flavor profile already feels too small.

The first-wave producers still matter. Garrison Brothers, Balcones, Ironroot Republic, Andalusia, and Still Austin all helped put Texas whiskey in front of drinkers who might otherwise have ignored the state. But Texas whiskey is no longer just those names.

The map has filled in.

Texas Liquor Laws and the Challenge for Texas Distilleries

One of the recurring themes of the episode is that Texas loves to talk about being business-friendly, but distilleries may have a few notes.

Wine has more freedom. Beer has more flexibility. Distilleries have had to fight for basic privileges, including bottle sales at the distillery, off-site festival sampling, and broader consumer access.

Even now, the rules remain limited. Distilleries can sample at certain events, festivals, and farmers markets, but cannot sell bottles in the same way wineries can. Bottle sales at distilleries were once capped at two bottles per person per 30 days, later expanded to four. Direct shipping remains an issue. Sunday sales remain an issue. The result is a state with a huge whiskey scene and a frustrating number of barriers between interested drinkers and the bottles they just tasted.

That is especially difficult in Texas because the state is massive.

A whiskey trail in Kentucky can be a weekend. A Texas Whiskey Trail can be a week and still involve a heroic amount of driving. If someone tastes a bottle from a small producer at the festival and cannot buy it there, cannot have it shipped, and lives several hours from the distillery, that moment of enthusiasm can evaporate before it becomes a purchase.

That is one reason Jake keeps pushing for festival sales.

It is not just about convenience. It is about making Texas whiskey discovery useful.

Why This Austin Whiskey Festival Does Not Publish a Distillery Map

One of Jake’s more interesting festival choices is that he does not publish a map of where each distillery is located at the event.

That sounds like a small thing, but it changes the experience.

At many whiskey festivals, maps create rush points. People sprint to the famous names, camp out for limited pours, and bypass smaller tables entirely. Jake wants the opposite. The Texas Whiskey Festival is built around discovery, so he wants attendees to walk, wander, taste, ask questions, and find things they did not know they were looking for.

That works partly because Star Hill Ranch is compact enough to explore without needing a survival guide and a pack mule.

It also creates a better environment for smaller or newer Texas whiskey producers. A person might come in looking for Garrison Brothers, Balcones, Still Austin, or Ironroot, then stumble into Wilson Valley, Mad Hatter, Kiepersol, Maverick, or some other producer they would never have chased down on a map.

That matters in a state where awareness is still uneven. Even Ironroot, despite global awards and an enthusiast following, is still unknown to plenty of Texas drinkers. If a festival can turn “never heard of them” into “where do I buy this?” then the map can stay hidden.

Texas Whiskey Tastings for New Drinkers and Returning Fans

The festival has a healthy mix of returning attendees and first-timers.

That balance affects what distilleries should bring. A newer producer needs something attendees can remember: stickers, cards, bottle openers, QR codes, anything that helps someone find the brand later after tasting dozens of whiskeys. A smaller distillery cannot assume name recognition.

Established distilleries have the opposite challenge. If people already know the core lineup, bringing only those bottles may not be enough. Jake’s view is that bigger names should bring the core for newcomers and something special for returning fans: distillery-only releases, limited editions, barrel samples, festival pours, or experimental whiskey.

That is how the festival keeps both audiences engaged.

The new drinker gets context. The returning drinker gets a reason to come back. The distillery gets a better chance to turn a sample into an actual relationship with the consumer.

And the consumer gets to avoid the awful post-festival experience of trying to remember “that one table three spots from the end with the good corn whiskey.”

Texas Whiskey Regionality, or Why Scotland Is the Wrong Map

Jake and I spent a lot of time talking about regionality.

It is tempting to compare Texas whiskey to Scotch whisky. Scotland has Islay, Speyside, the Highlands, Campbeltown, the Lowlands, and the Islands. Texas has the Hill Country, North Texas, South Texas, Houston, the Panhandle, West Texas, and more climates than a reasonable state should be allowed to contain.

But the comparison breaks down quickly.

Scotch malt whisky has a relatively narrow production definition. Texas whiskey does not. Texas producers can use pot stills, column stills, hybrid systems, bourbon mash bills, rye, single malt, corn whiskey, smoked malt, heirloom grains, wild fermentation, different barrel sizes, different entry proofs, and different maturation strategies.

Even within one region, the whiskey can vary wildly depending on production choices.

Houston’s humidity may affect maturation differently from the Hill Country or North Texas. Some warehouses lose water and rise in proof. Humid areas may behave differently. But is that enough to create a clearly recognizable regional style? Jake is skeptical, at least for now.

That seems right to me. Texas whiskey is still too young, too varied, and too experimental to start drawing hard regional borders. The more interesting question may not be “What does South Texas whiskey taste like?” but “What are these producers learning from their own environment?”

Texas Distillery House Style Before Regional Style

If regionality is still hard to pin down, house style is easier.

Balcones has one. Garrison Brothers has one. Ironroot has one. Still Austin is developing one. Andalusia has a clear identity. Many Texas distilleries are reaching the point where the liquid carries a recognizable fingerprint, whether intentional or not.

That may be more useful than regionality at this stage.

Garrison Brothers is a good example. As Jake and I tasted the 2025 Cowboy Bourbon, I kept coming back to a note I have found in other Garrison releases: something between dark honey, horehound candy, sassafras, and an unmedicated Ricola. It shows up differently across Cowboy, Balmorhea, HoneyDew, and other releases, but there is a thread.

That kind of throughline helps consumers understand a distillery. It also gives the producer something to build from.

Texas whiskey may not yet have settled regional definitions. It does have developing personalities.

Texas Bourbon, Texas Single Malt, and the Many Faces of Texas Whiskey

On a previous Texas whiskey panel, Robert Likarish from Ironroot used the word “swagger” to describe Texas whiskey.

That works.

Jake has often described Texas whiskey as bold and amplified, but even he noted that the phrase is imperfect. Some Texas single malts are delicate. Some bourbons are elegant. Some bottles punch through drywall. Others float above the glass.

My own way of organizing Texas whiskey lately has been less about geography and more about character: powerful and bold on one end, rich and elegant on another, with plenty of weird little tributaries along the way. Garrison Cowboy is obviously in the power camp. Some Milam & Greene releases lean more elegant. Balcones can go from intense to surprisingly delicate depending on the release. Andalusia can smoke the room or sit back in a more refined single malt register.

That range is a good thing.

If Texas whiskey becomes defined too quickly, it risks teaching new producers to aim at the definition instead of the glass. Jake’s point is well taken: the moment someone decides exactly what Texas whiskey is supposed to taste like, experimentation starts getting shoved into a smaller box.

Texas whiskey is young enough that “why not?” may still be its most important production rule.

The First Texas Whiskey Festival Blends

One of the coolest parts of the Texas Whiskey Festival story is the blend series.

After the first festival, Jake wanted to create a blend of Texas whiskies. With help from Daniel Whittington at Wizard Academy and Whiskey Vault, that idea became the first public blend of Texas whiskies made from multiple Texas distilleries and released by another entity.

The first blend included Ironroot, Balcones, and Andalusia.

That may sound like a fun side project, and it was, but it also did something bigger. It put distillers in the same room, blending together, talking through whiskey, and learning how to transfer liquid in bond. That last part turned out to be harder than the blending itself because few people had experience doing it in that context.

The blends eventually slowed because 375ml bottles did not move as quickly as expected, despite the eternal internet claim that everybody wants smaller bottles. But the idea may come back in a big way for the tenth anniversary.

Jake is working on a year-ten blend made from distilleries that have supported the festival every year. Even better, the distillers are planning to pick barrels together as a group.

That is not just a blend. That is the family reunion becoming liquid.

Texas Whiskey Festival Cigars and Barrel-Aged Pairings

There was a brief and entertaining research correction in this conversation.

I had come across the Drunk Uncle, Crazy Aunt, and Daddy’s Little Princess names and initially thought they were whiskey releases. They are, in fact, cigars.

The Texas Whiskey Festival partnered on a line of barrel-aged cigars, with Drunk Uncle aged in Balcones rye barrels, Crazy Aunt in a Texas bourbon barrel, and Daddy’s Little Princess in Yellow Rose Outlaw bourbon barrels. Jake talked about how wrappers and barrel types shape the pairing, especially with Drunk Uncle and Balcones Rye.

That fits the festival’s broader identity. It is not only about whiskey in a glass. It is about the full Texas whiskey experience: pours, cigars, food, music, distillers, conversations, and the sort of night where someone tells you to try a bottle you have never heard of because they have already mentally adopted you into the herd.

Certified Texas Whiskey and the Texas Whiskey Trail

The Certified Texas Whiskey program is one of the most important pieces of the conversation.

Rather than define Texas whiskey by flavor, mash bill, still type, grain source, or barrel strategy, the Texas Whiskey Association built a certification around process. Certified Texas Whiskey means the whiskey was mashed, fermented, distilled, aged, and bottled in Texas.

The grain does not have to be Texas-grown. That flexibility is intentional. Some grains do not grow well everywhere in Texas, and tying certification to grain origin could punish distilleries for weather, agriculture, or supply realities beyond their control.

The mark is meant to help consumers.

Labels can be slippery. “Produced by,” “crafted by,” “bottled by,” and other phrases can leave drinkers needing a jeweler’s loupe and a law degree. Certified Texas Whiskey gives consumers a clearer signal: this whiskey was actually made in Texas.

That does not mean every certified bottle is automatically good. It means the liquid did the work in the state.

The Texas Whiskey Trail then gives drinkers a way to explore that world, though “trail” is a funny word for something that may require several days, multiple hotel rooms, and a willingness to discover how truly enormous Texas is.

Under-the-Radar Texas Whiskey Producers to Watch

Toward the end of the episode, I asked Jake about under-the-radar Texas whiskey producers.

His answer started with the funny reality that some producers with major awards are still under the radar for the average consumer. Ironroot Republic has won major global honors, yet plenty of drinkers in Texas still do not know where Denison is or why Ironroot matters.

For newer or less visible names, Jake brought up Kiepersol in Tyler, Wilson Valley, Mad Hatter, and Maverick as examples to revisit or watch. Maverick, in particular, caught his attention recently with whiskey from a different warehouse that showed a bigger, bolder profile than he had associated with the brand before.

That is an important reminder.

Texas whiskey is changing quickly. A bottle you tasted two years ago may not tell you what a distillery is doing now. Warehouses change. Barrel sizes change. Still teams learn. Fermentation improves. Cooperage decisions evolve. Distribution expands. Releases get older.

The right answer is often: go back and taste again.

The Future of Texas Whiskey

The final stretch of the conversation circled back to where Texas whiskey is going.

Jake thinks the next few years could be especially exciting because distillers are learning their maturation cycles. Early Texas whiskey often involved smaller barrels, shorter timelines, and a certain intensity that helped create the category’s reputation. Now more producers are moving into 53-gallon barrels, larger formats, custom cooperage, thicker staves, and more deliberate maturation strategies.

Balcones is using even larger barrels. Garrison Brothers is working with custom barrels and thicker staves. There is now a cooperage in Texas. Distilleries are experimenting with heirloom grains, wild fermentation, different climates, different warehouses, and different ways to let Texas shape whiskey without letting heat run the whole show.

That is where the category gets exciting.

The early reputation of Texas whiskey was built on power. The next chapter may be built on control, maturity, and range.

The Tenth Texas Whiskey Festival in Austin

The tenth annual Texas Whiskey Festival is scheduled for April 17, 2027, at Star Hill Ranch outside Austin.

Tickets are expected to go on sale December 1, 2026, and Jake recommends signing up for the newsletter because that is where announcements happen first. There will also be Texas Whiskey Festival events in Plano and Flower Mound before then.

Year ten feels like the right moment for a bigger celebration. Texas whiskey is still young, but it is no longer a curiosity. It has award winners, cult bottles, national recognition, an official trail, a certification program, independent bottler interest, and enough producers that even devoted whiskey people can still find names they have never tasted.

That is the best kind of problem.

What This Texas Whiskey Festival Episode Is Really About

This episode is about the Texas Whiskey Festival, yes, but really it is about the work required to build a whiskey region before everyone agrees it is a region.

That work happens in distilleries, but also at festivals. It happens through tastings, barrel picks, blends, certifications, dinner conversations, cigar pairings, maps not printed, and drinkers being nudged toward a table they might have missed.

Jake did not start the festival because Texas whiskey was already fully understood. He started it because people needed a place to understand it.

Nine years later, that work is still happening. The whiskey is better. The producers are more connected. The audience is broader. The laws still need work. The state is still too big. The bottles are still hard to find. The definitions are still unsettled.

Good.

That means there is more to taste.

Texas Whiskey Festival