Tejas Collaboration Series
“Tejas, the Spanish spelling of the ancient Caddo word for “friend” or “ally,” is a collaboration between the festival and Texas distillers to create unique offerings that showcase their methods and character. Each bottling will be a limited release available only through the respective distiller.”
A Texas Whiskey Festival Collaboration
We’ve written about the South’s Premier Whiskey Experience before, with an emphasis on Jake Clements - aka Whiskey Jake, the festival’s co-founder - and the event itself. But Texas Whiskey Fest is more than just an annual celebration. While the main event is once a year, building and growing relationships with distilleries, vendors, and other critical parties requires continual effort that attendees may never see the benefits of outside of their festival experience or when tasting a festival blend.
Unless, of course, they know about the Tejas Collaboration Series.
As we prepped to attend another Tejas release last month we decided it was time to discuss the origins, operations, and future of this partnership between Texas Whiskey Fest and the distilleries that make it all possible. We were fortunate enough to grab time with Whiskey Jake himself to give us some insights, along with some of the Giant Texas crew responsible for the latest double Tejas release.
Origins
An idea worth sharing
The Tejas Collaboration Series was born out of Jake’s desire to do fun things without the constraints, challenges, investments, and red tape that come with starting a new distillery.
“That seems like a lot of work!” Jake eloquently summarized in our discussion.
At the time we were sitting together in the Giant Texas tasting room in Houston. Jake had just finished a live video with Julian Giraldo (Head Distiller at Giant Texas) and our friends from The Functional Gentlemen that spanned a range of topics, including the latest Tejas release. As anyone who knows Jake can testify, he was more than willing to take time for a dram or two and share the goodness of Texas whiskey.
“Creating a distillery, starting a DSP… there’s a lot of things that go into that. Facilities, everything like that. And so these projects that I wanted to do that were coming up in my mind didn’t make a lot of sense because I wasn’t trying to do a large volume of them… so what if I did collaborations and released them through the distilleries?”
Jake was back in 2019, and the 2nd annual Texas Whiskey Fest had recently ended. Jake had strong relationships with several distilleries, and for his initial idea he had a specific flavor profile in mind and the quintessential distillery to partner with. He called Ranger Creek and set up time with Dennis Rylander (co-founder) and Josh Gardner (then Head Distiller) to discuss the concept and hash out some of the details.
Entering the conversation Jake already knew he wanted it to be called Tejas as a way to honor Texas’ heritage.
“It’s an old Caddo word for ‘friend’ or ‘ally’. It’s also ‘Texas’. And so I’m working with friends, the wood and the whiskey are becoming allies, and then we want people to share it with friends. So it kind of becomes this full circle,” Jake explained.
The first Tejas release with Ranger Creek. Image courtesy of Texas Whiskey Festival.
Jake had always enjoyed the grassy, green apple notes of Ranger Creek’s .44 rye whiskey and he was curious to see how a cider barrel could amplify them even further. After securing said barrel from Austin Eastciders, Jake and Josh spent time moving through the Ranger Creek rickhouse and thieving from barrels to find the perfect rye to start with, discussing how they felt the finishing barrel would impact the spirit. In the end they chose a rye barrel that wasn’t the best single barrel they tasted but instead the one that they felt would take on more of the flavors they were looking for. According to Jake, they made the right decision.
“It turned out to be apple pie in a jar,” Jake said, smiling in reminiscence.
Driving business to the distilleries
The Tejas Collaboration has successfully released a handful of spirits since that initial Range Creek run. Other previous entries in the series include:
2019: Caffe Del Fuego coffee liquor aged in a bourbon barrel (Remington Family Distillers, barrel from Ironroot Republic Distilling)
2022: .36 Bourbon finished in a mead barrel (Ranger Creek, barrel from Meridian Hive)
2023: Triple Distilled single malt finished in a mezcal barrel (Andalusia Whiskey Co., barrel from an undisclosed source)
2023: Tom Roy single malt whiskey finished in an orange muscat brandy barrel (Modisett & Sons, barrel from Andalusia Whiskey Co) - still available to purchase online, shipping to most states!
2023: Column still bourbon finished in a Roussanne white wine barrel (Treaty Oak Distilling Co, barrel from Bent Oak Winery)
2023: Rye whiskey finished in a Jamaican-style rum cask (Shire Distilling Co., barrel from Island Getaway Rum) - still available at the distillery!
2024: Rye whiskey finished in a naranja wine barrel (Ranger Creek, barrel from an undisclosed source) - still available at the distillery!
Our Distillery Reviews team got all of the 2023 releases either the weekend of the 2023 Texas Whiskey Festival or as they dropped later throughout the year. Each bottle is completely unique (no surprise there), and each bottle is also completely empty at this point.
Andalusia’s 2023 Tejas release.
With the exception of the Tom Roy release, all Tejas collaborations require you to visit the distilleries to purchase and/or pick up the bottles. According to Jake, that’s an intentional part of the process that helps raise the profile of partnering distilleries by creating another incentive for people to visit them. Texas Whiskey Fest supports with marketing on their website, at the festival itself, and through their newsletters and social media channels.
At the 2023 Texas Whiskey Fest we tried several Tejas Collaboration bottles (some on the table and some hidden under it), and that exposure directly led to us visiting distilleries to get bottles and spending more time and money than we planned to. We already had a tour lined up at Andalusia on the Friday before Whiskey Fest, and we had a pour of their mezcal-finished single malt during it that led us to purchase a few bottles for ourselves and others.
We didn’t have plans to visit Treaty Oak that same weekend, but we squeezed in a visit Saturday morning before Whiskey Fest because their Tejas Collaboration was too good to miss after sampling it at the Friday evening dinner. That trip also included three more bottles purchased between us, several cocktails, and lunch all at the distillery. Those purchases are a direct result of the Tejas Collaboration and the promotions done by Texas Whiskey Fest.
At some point we will visit Ranger Creek in San Antonio to pick up a Tejas Collaboration series offering, and while there we’ll have to each hit our four bottle limit to maximize the value of the trip. And with a visit comes a tour and tastings, food at or near the distilleries, hotels or rentals for longer stays… these are the types of positive impacts Jake and team want to see with each successful release.
The data backs up this approach - for their 2022 report, the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States found that non-local distillery visitors spent $459.4 million supporting distillery tourism in Texas. That was for direct business sales at distilleries and local businesses such as restaurants, hotels, transportation services, and entertainment facilities. Clearly the Tejas Collaboration Series is more than just a passion project - it’s a viable driver of revenue for distilleries and their communities.
Inherent risks
As with any distilling project, the Tejas Collaborations come with a risk of failure. A Still Austin project with John Schrepel (Head Distiller) that was finishing rye whiskey in mezcal barrels was one such loss. Jake was at Still Austin in February of 2021 just as the first snow began falling from Winter Storm Uri. Maybe the storm was an omen of things to come, but at the time Jake was just happy to have gotten the barrels filled before Texas came to a standstill. And while the warm weather (and power!) returned within a few days, the issue with the release developed after several more years of investment.
“John Schrepel and I loved where it was going,” Jake recalled. Both barrels had been aging for almost two years and the team was happy with how the finishing process had impacted the whiskey. “We’re ready to bottle it, we’re going to work on a release date. And then something happened from the time we said it was good and the time that John got ready to dump it that literally, when they dumped it, the whiskey was green.”
It turns out that green whiskey isn’t something distilleries regularly release. With a number of potential causes, and no clear remedy, the project was scrapped. Two years, two barrels, and hours of work were lost. Jake was disappointed, but you don’t make it in the spirits industry without resilience.
“Projects aren’t always going to work out,” Jake continued, “but the fact that most of the distillers so far are willing to take that chance bas been really cool to me. That’s really the essence of the Tejas collaboration series - who wants to do cool s*** with me?!”
The Collaborative Process
Staying adaptable
Each collaboration may follow the same basic formula - have an idea, partner with a distillery, work together to create something new - but the execution of each step is as unique as each end product. Sensing opportunities and being adaptable are foundational to success, and no two collaborations have been the same despite sharing the high-level steps.
Take, for example, acquiring the finishing barrels. Sometimes Jake has a barrel in mind and just needs to find it (as was the case with the Austin Eastciders barrel used for the first Tejas release). Other times he leverages his relationships to find a specific barrel from a range of potential options (like with the white wine barrels with Treaty Oak). In other instances barrel brokers share opportunities that spark interest (which happened with the Spanish sweet vermouth barrels used in the latest Giant Texas release). Jake laughed wistfully at the idea he’s digging through warehouses to find an undiscovered gem each time when we asked him during our interview. “I wish it was that cool and that romantic, but no. I didn’t scour the Earth… but that would be so much cooler…”.
Experimenting, sampling, bottling, labeling, marketing, releasing… everything requires resources and we were curious how it all gets paid for. It turns out that this is one of the more standard and predictable parts of the overall process.
“They’re still distillery products, right? So the cost and funding and everything are mostly through the distillery,” Jake shared. “There are things that the festival does and pays for… depending on labels [we pay for] stickers. Obviously promotion,” he continued. Because the intent is to get people into the distilleries to purchase their products, the cost still falls mostly on the distilleries as it would with any other product that they produce. That also means that most of the profit remains with the distilleries as well.
Making key decisions
Regardless of how challenging or adventurous acquiring barrels may be, there are more standard, but equally critical, decisions to be made with each Tejas release.
According to the TTB, there are almost 300 spirits producers and bottlers in Texas. Even narrowing the list down to distilleries that are on the Texas Whiskey Trail or that participate in Texas Whiskey Fest leaves several dozen options. We were curious to understand if Jake ever had a distillery in mind but the timing wasn’t there for a Tejas collaboration to become reality.
“I haven’t asked anybody that said no… Obviously I haven’t asked every distillery in the state, right? It’s too many! But so far I’ve been lucky and nobody’s told me no,” Jake laughed. That lack of rejection is due in part to Jake’s care in choosing potential collaborators. While Jake shared that there aren’t set criteria that he applies, he does consider a lower barrier of entry in getting a project started a plus so that everyone involved can maximize the value of their time spent working together. Jake respects that the distilleries are still businesses and that they have to look out for their businesses first and foremost.
Another key decision is the size of bottles to use. 375ml bottles allow for each release to go further as more people can get access to a limited product and more easily transport it for sharing with others. Sales data and trends, however, indicate that standard 750ml bottles actually sell better. That information is shifting the Tejas Collaboration Series to focus exclusively on 750ml bottles for the foreseeable future.
“375s just don’t move like 750s do,” Jake shrugged. “People are slowing down on the amount of whiskey they’re buying. And so 375s seem to be harder to move. Logically, it doesn’t make a lot of sense, but we’re not logical creatures.” A shift back to smaller bottles could occur as costs, consumer habits, and regulation continue to fluctuate, but for now fans of the Tejas Collaboration Series should make room on their shelves for the larger 750ml bottles for the upcoming 2024 and 2025 releases that we will cover near the end of this article.
Achieving the perfect blend
Aging spirits is a blend of art and science, and that means the timing of a release isn’t something that can really be controlled. Jake and the distilleries have always respected that the spirit is ready when it’s ready, and not at any desired milestones like Texas Whiskey Fest or a distillery anniversary. Having several collaborations available for the 2023 festival was a happy coincidence.
“Whiskey’s a long game. I don’t want to take away from a project trying to rush it,” Jake said. “Also, we have to be careful that we’re not being too greedy… John Schrepel and I talked about this with the project that we had at Still Austin… Did we get too greedy? Did we push the barrel too long trying to strike too much flavor out of it?” That balance must be carefully and continually monitored to ensure that the art and science are coming together to create a desirable outcome.
Jake takes a very hands on approach to support the balance of art and science, and that means driving to visit distilleries for in-person discussions, tastings, releases, and other key work. Texas is a big place, and even Jake being centrally located in Austin puts some of the current Texas Whiskey Trail distilleries over four hours away. Working side-by-side with distillers and their teams drives that sense of partnership and community that makes Texas whiskey special to begin with, and Jake is more than willing to make the investment.
Jake and Julian in conversation, Giant Texas tasting room.
Devotion and partnership
Everyone agreed on a desired outcome to kick-off the collaborative process on the latest Giant Texas release - what if we made something that tasted like a Manhattan cocktail in a bottle? From there, Julian Giraldo (Head Distiller) picked an initial set of 15-20 rye barrels that he felt made sense for the flavor profile of a Manhattan - spicy and bold rye with herbal undertones that could be enhanced by the sweet vermouth once held by the finishing barrel. Jake and Julian then sat down and tasted all of the barrels, individually rated them, and then compared results to agree on the three barrels to move forward with. Jake described working with Ranger Creek and Andalusia for other projects as a completely different experience - none better than the others, but each reflecting the personalities and preferences of the distillers instead of a rigid approach dictated by Jake himself.
Any collaboration requires at least two parties, and Julian answered our question on what it was like to work with Jake on the Tejas Collaboration Series during a live stream with our friends at The Functional Gentlemen.
“He was very involved with the process,” Julian shared. “After we put [the rye] in the vermouth barrels we were doing extra tastings. He came here a couple of times. So it was a very detail-oriented project, right? He really took the time to make it right. We’ve been doing this for over two years already!” Giant Texas is the largest distillery west of the Mississippi River, and that means Julian and team have a lot of experience working with others on projects. Jake brought the idea forward and then worked with Julian instead of throwing the idea to him and waiting until things were finished for him to put his label on it, and that approach was much appreciated.
“[Jake] is all about getting people together… for us it was an honor to work with him,” Julian summarized.
The Giant Texas release, September 2024
Circling back, this article grew out of our visit to Giant Texas for a double Tejas release. We’ve visited Giant several times over the years, including multiple releases of their Prideful Goat series in partnership with Randy Sullivan. Several of our industry friends made the drive into Houston from around the state to celebrate with Jake and Julian, and the double release was worth the trip.
According to Julian, this Tejas Collaboration started with picking the aforementioned three straight rye whiskey barrels. The ryes were distilled right here in Houston by Gulf Coast Distillers (Giant’s previous name) and were between three and four years old. Jake sourced several Spanish Sweet Vermouth barrels which were filled with the three different single barrel ryes in March 2023, about four months after Jake first got word that the finishing barrels were available. Over the next 10 months the team tasted each barrel at regular intervals until they felt that the best flavor profile had been developed. At that point they realized that one barrel stood out from the others with notes of campfire smoke, peated scotch, and dried fruits. They found the barrel to be a perfect cigar pairing, and chose to release it on its own as a single barrel offering. The remaining barrels were used to create an exceptional blend that hints at the same smoke in its finish rather than up front on the palate.
Michael Cosby (Product Development at Giant Texas) was part of the tasting, bottling, and release process for these bottles. His assumption is that the finishing barrels may have actually held a peated scotch at some point unbeknownst to the team or the barrel broker that helped find the barrels. Rather than call the project a failure, the entire team pivoted to embrace what they were getting from the finishing process. This is a great example of how adaptability is key to the Tejas Collaboration Series - the desired outcome for this Tejas release was ‘a Manhattan in a bottle’. Based on the tasting notes above you can tell that the team didn’t achieve that outcome, but they found something wonderful and unexpected along the way.
Stop by the Giant Texas tasting room to pick up these bottles before they’re gone, and be on the lookout for future Tejas Collaborations with Giant Texas!
Andalusia’s 2024 Tejas release. Image courtesy Lucas “Moose” Allen, Andalusia Head Distiller.
Looking Forward
Ongoing Projects
Several Tejas Collaborations are currently in the works, and Jake was willing to provide a quick look at what future releases have already been announced:
November 9th, 2024: Revenant Oak completely matured in a mezcal barrel (Andalusia Whiskey Co., barrel from an undisclosed source). Jake and team trying something new by placing new make whiskey into what would normally only be a finishing barrel. This release is happening at Andalusia on Saturday, November 9th!
~Spring 2025: Tom Roy v2 single malt whiskey finished in a brandy barrel (Modisett & Sons, barrel from Andalusia Whiskey Co). A different brandy this time, 750ml bottles, and planned for online sales and distribution.
TBD: Pot still bourbon finished in a Roussanne white wine barrel (Treaty Oak Distilling Co, barrel from Bent Oak Winery). The sister project of the 2023 release that was distilled a day apart, aged next to each other in the original barrels, and then mysteriously not ready to release at/near the same time after finishing.
Scaling up the Tejas Collaboration Series to more concurrent projects is not one of Jake’s priorities given his hands on approach and trends indicating a drop in spirit sales since the pandemic. “I would love to get to a point where I have X number of collaborations releasing every year, I don’t know when that’s feasible,” Jake mused. For now the series will continue to be opportunistic instead of driven by any key metrics, and that fits the ‘passion project’ concept perfectly.
A bigger, bolder future
With that being said, Jake is still working through some big ideas planned for the next few years, though he is keeping them mostly under wraps for now.
“I know we’re only coming up on the eight festival but I’m already thinking about year ten. There’s some things I have in mind that if I’m able to pull them off… it’s going to be an epic year from April 2026 to April 2027 from a whiskey perspective. But that’ll involve distribution, and it will involve distillery things, and it will involve online stuff. I think the possibilities are endless. It’s limited by your imagination,” Jake teased near the very end of our conversation together.
We couldn’t get any additional details out of him, but when Whiskey Jake indicates he is working on something big for Texas Whiskey Fest and the Tejas Collaboration Series then we take notice. We will continue to do our parts in promoting Texas whiskey and purchasing releases, and we encourage y’all to do the same. Make sure to keep up with the latest Tejas Collaboration news on the official Texas Whiskey Fest website. We hope to see y’all at the next Tejas release!
