Last month I won a bid for a triple set of bottles from TX Whiskey on the Kentucky Bourbon Benefit auction for Eastern Kentucky flood relief. The set was donated from Firestone & Robertson Distilling Company located in Fort Worth, Texas. Prior to this auction I had never heard of them. After a quick search I learned a few things that piqued my curiosity enough to give it a go while supporting a good cause.
In 2009 Leonard Firestone and Troy Robertson only knew each other as acquaintances through their wives and lived in the same neighborhood. Troy worked in the finance side of the oil and gas industry but had aspirations of opening a local distillery in Fort Worth. To learn more about the whiskey business, he set up a tour with the folks at Garrison Brothers. While Troy was there it was mentioned that another guy from Fort Worth also booked a tour for the following week, and that guy was Leonard Firestone. Leonard worked in the cable broadcast industry and had also been quietly looking into opening a distillery for the past year. At the time neither of them ever mentioned to each other that they had the same idea to leave their careers to open a craft distillery. Troy called Leonard on the way home from Garrison Brothers and said, “Hey, I hear you want to get into the Whiskey business”. They got together for lunch the next day and hammered out a draft for their business plan. The next step was to hire a head distiller. Originally from Louisville, KY, Rob Arnold grew up with family members going back a few generations working in local distilleries mostly for Brown-Forman. Rob was a Biochemistry PhD student at the UT Medical Center in Dallas. Rob’s hobby was brewing his own beer at home and “may or may not have been making his own whiskey”. This hobby turned into a serious look into changing his career path. Through the grapevine Rob heard about Leonard and Troy’s plans and setup a meeting with the intention of learning more about the finance side of the business. In exchange Rob would share his knowledge of making whiskey. After a few meetings Leonard and Troy offered Rob a job as Head Distiller. It wasn’t too long before two copper pot-column hybrid Vendome stills were purchased and installed in a pre-prohibition era warehouse that they completely renovated south of Fort Worth.
Leonard and Firestone wanted their whisky to include ingredients that represented Texas terroir so they sourced all their grains locally from Sawyer Farms (45 minutes south of the distillery), which include yellow dent corn, soft winter red wheat and 6-row malted barley. But the first priority was to create their own unique yeast strain native to Texas. This was Rob Arnold’s first task. After collecting a variety of samples, the team chose a yeast strain collected from a Texas pecan nut, which is now used for all their whiskies.
Two years later in the Spring of 2012, the team debuted a blended whiskey made from various sourced barrels aged in Texas which they named TX Blended Whiskey. By the end of only its second month in stores, 7,000 bottles were sold for $40 each. In March 2013, TX Blended Whiskey was named Best American Craft Whiskey and received a Double Gold award at the 13th annual World Spirits Competition. In the meantime, their own barrels which had been aging in Fort Worth for almost five years were ready for release. In December of 2016 Firestone & Robertson announced the release of their first bottles of TX Straight Bourbon made from their own distillate.
Planning for the future and scalability of their business, Firestone & Robertson purchased a new property in 2014 they would call “Whiskey Ranch” which was previously the Glen Garden County Club. This historic property included a 112 acre 18-hole golf course and 80,000 square feet of distillery space. When completed in 2018 this new property allowed them to increase production from 9 to 120 barrels a day. A new Still House includes a Vendome pot and 45’ column still with five 45,000 gallon fermentation tanks. In addition, Whiskey Ranch includes distillery tours, a retail space where visitors can make their own boot leather bottle tops, a tavern and a space to host events. In 2019 the second largest wine and spirits seller, Pernod Ricard acquired Firestone & Robertson Distilling Company adding TX Whiskey to their already large portfolio of brands throughout the world. Now it’s time to see what this interesting success story tastes like.
Taken: Within a span of 2 different days. First pour neat in an Aged & Ore tasting glasses. Second pour in Glencairn glasses. Both rested for about 10 – 15 minutes.
Proof: 101.6
Distillery: Firestone & Robertson.
Barrels : American oak, using various char# 1 – 4.
Mash Bill: 74% Corn, 14% Wheat, 12% Malted Barley.
Price: $64.99.
Cognac
Age: 2 years, finished for 14 to 18 months.
Appearance: Light golden.
Nose
Peaches, sweet caramel, grapes, pecans, orange citrus, honey, baking spice and subtle oak. This is a very nice nose but is a bit muted. In a blind test I would guess the proof to be in the 80’s and not a just over 100.
Palate
Very thin mouthfeel. Peaches, caramel, grapes, orange peel, light oak and baking spice. Soon after some fruit forward notes are picked up, baking spice kicks covering most everything else. After that baking spice quickly fades to the finish. Underwhelming.
Finish
As the baking spice fades, tannins that turn into bitter leather emerge. Out of all the notes in this profile, the one that lasts the longest is the most unfavorable one that lasts for way too long. If this ride wasn’t bad enough there is also some astringency which leaves you with some dryness at the end. This finish is terrible.
Conclusion
Because this selection was not on the F&R website, I assumed the source bourbon had a four year age statement like the other two. That is until I noticed the much lighter color and other issues. After some digging, I found the sourced bourbon has a two year age statement which explains a lot. Obviously, some bad decisions were made that led to this result so enough said for this one.
Rating
2/10
Tawny Port
Age: 4 years, finished for 6 months.
Appearance: Dark caramel.
Nose
Plums, dark chocolate, cherry reduction, grapes, pecans, baking spice, sweet oak. If this sounds good to you I agree, but it’s also very sweet. Sometimes I like it a lot and other times it’s bit much.
Palate
Medium mouthfeel. Nose transfers nicely to the palate with toffee, chocolate, grapes, dark cherries, nuttiness, baking spice and sweet oak. Despite the strong wine influence on the nose, there is a very nice balance between the fruitier notes and baking spice on the palate. This drinks as easily as you would imagine with no proof heat. Pretty enjoyable dessert pour.
Finish
Light baking spice covers the whole palate. Chocolate, grapes, linger with light tannins of leather and tobacco. Notes of chocolate, grapes and cherry linger along with light leather to the end. No bitterness or dryness. This is a very nice finish that lingers on despite the light oak tannins.
Conclusion
I found the palate and finish to be much more balanced and enjoyable on the second pour, and liked it twice as much the second time around. Though the nose was still as strong. If you like a good sweet dessert pour this one is for you.
Rating
5.6/10
PX Sherry
Age: 4 years, finished for 8 months.
Appearance: Golden caramel.
Nose
Luxardo cherry, plums, apricot, chocolate, maple syrup, sweet cake, baking spice and oak. Hello wheated bourbon, nice to finally meet you! Even though there is solid dose of sweet PX sherry on this nose, the wheated mash bill finally shows up in this expression. The result is giving me that sweet cake note I love so much similar to what I find in Old Elk and Maker’s. This is a welcome surprise that I’m enjoying.
Palate
Medium viscous mouthfeel. Good nose to palate transfer. Cherries, stone fruit, chocolate, maple, lots of apricot, orange citrus, light baking spice and sweet oak. The balance between the fruiter, sweeter notes and baking spice is well done. This is another very easy sipper with little to no proof heat.
Finish
Though not overwhelming, baking spice manages to cover the palate with a good amount of longevity. Oak and tannins are present but subtle. Light tannins turn into a pleasant leather note with slight tobacco. Chocolate, apricot, a hint of dark cherry and maple linger along for the ride until the end. Overall, a subtle yet long enjoyable finish.
Conclusion
This was my favorite of the three which was unexpected, considering how many times I’ve been let down by PX expressions. This includes the Rabbit Hole Dareringer I purchased on a recommendation and the many PX samples I’ve tried at distillery tastings. Not to mention a Thomas S. Moore bar pour. I can honestly say this is the best finished PX Sherry bourbon I’ve tried so far. I would still consider this a dessert pour but with a bit more bourbon back bone than the Tawny Port and with more complexity.
Rating
6.2/10
Final thoughts
If you were wondering from the beginning what kind of train wreck this was turning out to be, you can only imagine what I was thinking with Cognac being the first of the three I tried. Luckily, they got a lot better. I rolled the dice and got two winners and one loser. I have no regrets. It was for a good cause and it’s fun to explore new whiskey. Speaking of which, I’d like to try F&R’s Barrel Proof Bourbon to get a better idea of what these bottles tasted like prior to finishing. It seems like there’s a lot of potential for this up and coming distillery and I hope that F&R continue to release older expressions and keep improving as time goes on.
1 | Disgusting | So bad I poured it out.
2 | Poor | I wouldn’t consume by choice.
3 | Bad | Multiple flaws.
4 | Sub-par | Not bad, but better exists.
5 | Good | Good, just fine.
6 | Very Good | A cut above.
7 | Great | Well above average.
8 | Excellent | Really quite exceptional.
9 | Incredible | An all time favorite.
10 | Perfect | Perfect.
