WACO -- Under a bridge next to a Mrs Baird's bakery and a rusted storage building in a weary warehouse district, this year's "Wizard of Whisky" samples the spirits trickling out of his hand-built stills.
Chip Tate rolls the high-octane firewater around his mouth, strokes his black-bear beard, nods in satisfaction and then starts talking about his next venture -- rum.He's made his name in the spirits world with whiskeys that have won top-shelf reviews despite not spending years and years maturing in oak casks. But Tate's not enamored with rules, which is why he's adding rum to his eclectic line, which in some cases amounts to 50 cases of cask-reserve editions.Just a few years ago, Tate was juggling credit cards to pay the bills at Balcones Distillery while launching Baby Blue, a blue corn liquor and Texas' first legal whiskey since Prohibition. Also on the opening mash bill was Rumble, a concoction of figs and honey.Now, the spirits world is gushing about a distillery that's 2,600 square feet, has just two 250-gallon stills and is bent on stretching itself and the boundaries of an ancient craft.Despite a "presence that's aspiring to be minuscule," Balcones was named the 2012 World Whiskey Distillery of the Year and the U.S. Craft Distillery of the Year at the inaugural Wizards of Whisky competition. Whisky Magazine also named it the U.S. craft distillery of the year.In just two years, Balcones' lineup has won more gold, silver and bronze medals than most Olympic teams -- 37 at last count.Among them, a double gold for Baby Blue at the San Francisco World Wine & Spirits Competition and a double gold for his Texas Single Malt at the 2011 New York World Wine and Spirits Competition.These aren't mild measures for the masses."It's like a piece of art; it's not for everybody," Tate said. "We're not trying to do something that everyone likes; we're trying to make something that some people love."Count whiskey connoisseur Joshua Feldman among the believers. He says Tate has "cracked the code on making young whiskeys."Feldman, who works at a New York City museum and writes The Coopered Tot blog on aged whiskey, says Balcones is "making the very best American craft spirits right now."In one post, Feldman concludes: "In a nut shell, Chip is a genius."Bill Owens, president of the American Distilling Institute, says, "Balcones is head and shoulders above everyone else.""What makes Chip different is that he's educated himself. He's not some country bumpkin knocking this stuff out," he said.Craft-distilling boomBalcones is riding the crest of a craft-distilling movement that is exploding nationally and in Texas, where five firms are now cooking whiskey. The newest is Firestone & Robertson Distilling Co. in Fort Worth, which is aging a bourbon and has won rave reviews for a blended whiskey it created with spirits from three Kentucky sources.Owens, who is finishing a three-month tour of 80 craft distilleries, said the industry has grown from just over 200 in 2010 to about 400, with 50 more in the works.The draw is simple. "They produce products that taste better. Chip knocks you over with all these flavors," Owen said.Tate says the accolades are gratifying, but he would rather talk about Brimstone, his smoked whiskey that won golds in the Wizards awards and the New York competition."Brimstone just sings," said Feldman, who gives it five stars.It's not the grain that's smoked; the liquid itself feels the fire. But the process -- well, it's secret.The only hint are the cords of oak stacked up along with 10,000 or so gallons of liquor in 2,000 casks in a hulking 60,000-square-foot former cold storage building where Tate is moving his operation."We're not messing around," he said, before showing off a pile of staves of live oak that are drying on the roof of the new building. The plan is to see how Texas wood stacks up in the aging process.Balcones' very adult beverages run from $47 to $67 a bottle and are now available in 27 states as well as the United Kingdom, Sweden and Norway.To meet the demand, Tate is building two 500-gallon stills and plans to add three 4,000-gallon monsters in the new building. His full-time staff has grown in two years from three to 11, and the stills run from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m."We're selling everything we can make and we're at total max capacity," said the 37-year-old former assistant dean at Baylor University.A 'serious nerd'Tate, who worked in the nuclear industry before moving here from Virginia, calls himself as a "serious nerd" but he also has a bachelor's degree in philosophy, a graduate degree in religion, and a passion for cooking and brewing.He likens his current operation, where everything is done by hand, to a circa-1650 distillery. "We want to update to cutting-edge 1875," he said.In the distillery's tiny break room, the walls are lined with a Tate innovation, 5-gallon casks that speed the maturation process for Balcones brands.Other distillers have mimicked that move and Tate has since rolled off another twist -- 60-gallon barrels instead of the standard 55-gallon ones. He didn't like being typecast as the small-cask guy. Now he's using the biggest and smallest barrels in the business.Tate's in talks with investors for the next round of cash, but he insists that he won't sell out or cede control. "When I decided to make rum, I only had to get approval from me," he said."Cash is always the problem. It's all about how much whiskey I can make. That's a hard thing when you are desperately broke," he said.But he's not drinking too much of his own Kool-Aid, even if it is stacking up awards.There are 50 or so bottles from a who's who of craft distilling in his office, but he said "the really good stuff" is undergoing further research at home."You have to keep pushing to make something unique. That's why I'm making rum," Tate said."You can call me a pirate, but if you're going to break the rules, break all of them. You'll never be respected for breaking just some of them. Show a flagrant disregard for the rules. Do something different and do something good. If you just follow the rules, the best you can do isHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
