If you consider yourself a whiskey snob, or have aspirations of becoming one, you might want to find your way to Balcones' Waco distillery this weekend. Founder Chip Tate recently announced a special fifth-anniversary, straight single-malt release that only 100 folks will get to enjoy. Yes, only 100. It's a tiny place under a bridge. But they're working on bigger things, so just sit tight.
For the event this weekend, Tate set back some of their flagship product, Balcones "1," and let it simmer in two barrels that will yield a few hundred bottles of straight single-malt whiskey. One batch was aged and finished in a barrel that previously held Rumble Cask Reserve, which was made with wildflower honey, mission figs and turbinado sugar. The other was aged in a barrel that once lovingly nurtured Brimstone Resurrection.
See also: The Battle of Texas' Whiskey Makers and Fakers
Balcones is restricting sales of the fifth anniversary bottles -- 50 of each kind -- to one per person, but there will be some other bottles available, including Texas "1" Single Malt, Baby Blue and Rumble. Due to Texas law, you can only buy a maximum of two bottles at a time, so split it up however you see fit.
Tickets are $15 and go on sale on Wednesday, in increments of 10, each half hour, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. So, basically, there are 100 tickets. Ten people at a time. Crowd control. No walk-ins. The $15 ticket gets you in the door.
One last bit of bad news: no open-toed shoes at the distillery. Be decent. This is a classy place.
Balcones' new distillery should open next year, which will expand its output exponentially.
