‘It Was Always the Goal’: Balcones Ditches Bourbon, Dedicates Future to American Single Malt Whiskey
Balcones Distilling Head Distiller (left) and Spirits Manager Gabe RiCharde are pictured at the distillery with a bottle of Balcones Cataleja Texas Single Malt Whiskey. (Photo: Balcones Distilling)
In October, the Waco, Texas-based Balcones Distilling celebrated its 15th anniversary. With the anniversary came a celebratory whiskey: Cataleja Texas Single Malt.
Touted by Balcones as “one of the most complex and unique whiskies we’ve made,” Cataleja features aging in ex-bourbon barrels and four types of Spanish sherry casks.
Cataleja is a fitting anniversary release for Balcones because it collectively represents the distillery’s roots and future. In an American whiskey climate often focused on bourbon and rye — both categories Balcones has made its fair share of — the Waco distillery’s passion has always been single malt.
“[Making single malt] was always the goal,” Balcones Head Distiller Jared Himstedt told Whiskey Raiders in an interview at the distillery. “We started [Balcones] to make single malt. We did a lot of things along the way, so in some ways, it feels a little like a full circle.”
Balcones halted its bourbon production some time ago and has no plans to make anymore, according to Balcones Spirits Manager Gabe RiCharde.
“We love bourbon, we just don’t think we should be doing it,” RiCharde said, directing his next sentence to Kentucky distillers. “You guys do it. You f—ing do it, but we don’t really care. We have no interest in disrupting bourbon. No interest.”
Balcones will continue to produce its Baby Blue Corn Whiskey and has a new rye in the works, but the majority of its whiskey production is dedicated to the burgeoning category of American single malt, and Balcones is excited about that newfound focus.
“I’m glad we were a little unfocused all those years because we learned a lot,” Himstedt said, noting that the Balcones team didn’t have much experience at the outset and benefited from a “learn-on-the-job” approach.
Now 15 years in, Balcones is ready to home in on its niche.
“Now, it feels like it’s time to get back to the original goal,” Himstedt said. “Some of those other sidebars, they felt worth pursuing. Now, we’re starting to feel like they’re distracting.”
The Present and Future of American Single Malt Whiskey
(From left to right) Moderator and author Wayne Curtis, Balcones Distilling Head Distiller Jared Himstedt, American Single Malt Whiskey Commission President Steve Hawley and Andalusia Whiskey Co. co-founder Ty Phelps host a panel on American single malt whiskey at Balcones Distilling’s 15th anniversary celebration event.
Balcones’ strategic shift to charge full-tilt into American single malt comes at a big time for the category, which eagerly awaits an official designation from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, which would give it the same governmental recognition and regulation that bourbon and rye have in the U.S.
“I know, personally, about 250 distilleries making single malt in this country,” Steve Hawley, president of the American Single Malt Whiskey Commission said during a panel held at Balcones Distilling’s 15th anniversary celebration in Waco.
To put that into perspective, Scotland, the land of single malt, has fewer than 150 distilleries.
Single malt is wildly popular across the globe, most notably in Scotland. In the U.S., however, where bourbon reigns, it’s a relatively very new type of whiskey. The first known American single malt — McCarthy’s Oregon Single Malt — was released in 1996, and the category has steadily grown since. Today, American single malt is blazing in popularity, with hundreds of producers regularly releasing single malts and many distilleries thriving by exclusively making single malt.
Even some of America’s legacy producers, most notably Jack Daniel’s and James B. Beam, have gotten in on the single malt trend, which is evidence in itself of the category’s popularity and public demand for it.
American single malt is blossoming, but it still needs the TTB to grant it that official designation, which Himstedt says will be “a generationally important thing.”
“If you look at almost every single American single malt label, you will see American single malt on one line and the word whiskey on another line,” Hawley said. “TTB doesn’t see the American single malt part. They just see the whiskey. That’s how we’re all classified: We’re just whiskey, because American single malt doesn’t exist as as a regulated spirit.”
The American single malt category is a sleeping giant, and distillers across the U.S. are waiting with bated breath for the TTB to grant it that coveted designation. Single malt is the origin, present and future of Balcones, and the distilling team is excited to ditch anything that detracts its attention from its passion.
“I think that’s really where our skill set shines, too,” Himstedt said. “Single malt and our tiny little rum production are the areas that we feel the best about. We really know what we’re doing in those areas. And then some of the other more traditional American styles — it’s easy to find that people that [are] so much better than us at that.
“So, it’s always hard to walk away from something, but it feels positive to be able to know that we’re going to be channeling all that time and energy into the thing we care about the most anyway.”
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