Whiskey on the River at Mississippi River Distilling Company

09/05/18 • 25 min

This episode we travel to Le Claire, Iowa. The birthplace of Buffalo Bill Cody and a good whiskey story where Ryan and Garrett Burchett decided to pursue a dream. Ryan went from being the TV weatherman and Garrett came from an engineering background in Texas. All ingredients are sourced within 25 miles of the distillery. Did you know? The Mississippi River used to be the epicenter for whiskey in the world before prohibition.

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Previous Episode

Desert Door Distillery | Driftwood, TX | With Owner Judson Kauffman

When we heard that the first and only distiller of sotol in the United States since prohibition was located just outside of Austin, Texas, we had to take a trip to check it out."Sotol has been around for almost 1,000 years so it goes back a ways, especially here in Texas and northern Mexico," Desert Door co-founder Judson Kauffman told us. "It comes from the sotol plant. [It] grows in the Chihuahuan Desert, which is only found in northern Mexico, southern Texas and the tiniest corner of southeastern New Mexico."The sotol plant, which resembles an artichoke but 30 times bigger, isn’t farmed, it’s wild harvested in west Texas using machetes, axes and crowbars to harvest the plant. Sotol grows in elevation and Kauffman says it’s that location away from the colonized sea level areas of Mexico that initially earned its historical moniker of being a hillbilly moonshine much like whiskey in Tennessee or Kentucky was."We’re proud to be getting our juice out to the country through RackHouse Whiskey Club," Kauffman noted.Every whiskey tells a story. Sign up to join The Club at www.rackhousewhiskeyclub.com!

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Next Episode

Where Flavor Meets Family at Treaty Oak Distillery with Matthew Bauer

Treaty Oak Distillery: Where flavor meets family

What does a Cambridge University graduate, an Israeli Special Forces veteran, two U.S. Army vets and an engineer have in common? They help make up the team we met at Treaty Oak Distillery in Dripping Springs, Texas.

Treaty Oak’s name goes back more than 500 years after the famous tree in Austin, under which Stephen F. Austin signed agreements defining the borders of Texas. The fourth oldest distillery in the Lone Star State, the whiskey they create is Texas through and through.

“We kiss the vats everyday and that’s what makes it so special. It’s all done with love. This is a taste of Texas that bigger operations don’t have,” Alice Barnes, the Founder’s mother and matriarch to the staff, told us on our visit.

The Ghost Hill Bourbon, which will feature in RackHouse Whiskey Club’s Christmas box, is sourced and distilled in Texas. Available in very few states, it’s a blend of three two-to-five-year-old barrels. A second bottle of Red Handed Bourbon will also be in the box.

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