Today’s a very exciting day in the world of Texas whiskey! Milam & Greene‘s Distillery Edition Straight Bourbon Whiskey, a Certified Texas Whiskey, is now available at their distillery in Blanco, Texas (reserve your bottle online). There’s only one first batch of this 7-barrel blend, so get it before it’s gone!
Thank you, Milam & Greene, for sending me a bottle of your Straight Bourbon Whiskey! I’m extremely honored to be one of the few to receive a bottle from the first batch!
I got to join a call with Veteran Kentucky Master Distiller Marlene Holmes (now Blanco resident), Chief Brewer Jordan Osborne, and CEO/whiskey expert Heather Greene where we learned all about their new Straight Bourbon Whiskey. This very small batch, pot distilled, grain-to-glass whiskey started distillation in August 2017. They wanted to create something a little different, a little Texas-ish. Crafted completely onsite, this first batch has a mash bill of 70% corn, 22% malted rye, and 8% malted barley.
What’s amazing about producing a grain-to-glass whiskey is that the team can taste everything – they can taste each step in the process. When you put good things in, you get good things out, so checking on it along the way is key. To achieve the desired flavor profile, Jordan Osborne blended two separate yeast strains, one with more fruity notes and one with more florals. This adds incredible complexity to the bourbon. We tried to get more info on the yeast strains, but it’s a brewer’s secret.
The coolest part, I think, is that their Straight Bourbon Whiskey is a blend of seven barrels. Only seven barrels! It’s the first in Milam & Greene’s Hill Country Whiskey series ( the goal is to have one series a year), but there will only be one first batch! Those seven barrels produced about 1,200 bottles. It’s basically a collector’s item!
We also sampled their Triple Cask Straight Bourbon Whiskey. Each bottle of Milam & Greene Triple Cask is a batch of three hand-selected straight bourbon whiskeys: 2-year-old premium Texas bourbon for a pop of spice married with 3 to 4-year-old Tennessee whiskey for vanillas and fruits and 10 to 11-year-old Tennessee whiskey for structure and tannins. It’s then proofed to taste and bottled on site.
The Milam & Greene whiskey team talked a lot about the character of the bourbon coming out of the barrels. It’s incredible to think that barrels right next to each other can produce such different flavor profiles. Maybe a stream of sunlight hit one barrel and that made a change in the flavor. Maybe the area of the tree where the barrel wood was sourced from made a change in the flavor. What floor was the barrel on? Was it closer to the ground or the floor? It ALL makes a difference.
Toward the end of the call, we were joined by Milam & Greene partner, Marsha Milam. We talked about the label art and Marsha told us the story behind the angel on the bottle. “She is our guiding force,” said Marsha. The conversation ended with talks of a woman’s cigar night at the distillery. If that doesn’t make you love the Milam & Greene team, I don’t know what will.
You can pick up the incredible Straight Bourbon Whiskey at their Blanco Distillery Wednesday through Saturday 11-5pm. Right now, the distillery is only open for bottle purchases. Hopefully, one of these days, their tasting room can re-open and their tours can resume. Wear your masks, people!
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