Austin Schumacher and Chase Leftwich’s whiskey tale starts like many others. They were avid homebrewers, deeply engaged in the craft beer community. As their interest progressed, they started realizing that they were staring at an opportunity. “We were just talking to some of the craft brewers around North Texas about where they source their ingredients, and lo and behold, they all said there was no local grain purveyors, like at all. It didn’t exist,” says Austin.
Most of the malt used by Texas brewers was sourced from distant locations such as Canada or Europe, a fact that stood in stark contrast to Texas’ rich agricultural capabilities. “We just kept wondering why there were no local malts at all. It was unbelievable, considering the agricultural power Texas wields. And when we started digging into the history of barley in Texas, we found that prior to Prohibition, there was significant barley production here,” Austin explains.
