Next Wave Awards Rising Drinks Brand of the Year: Still Austin Whiskey Co.
In the whiskey world, if you’re doing everything yourself — if you’re not cutting any corners, if you’re trying to be a true original — it can take quite a while, perhaps even more than a full decade to become “up-and-coming.”
Such is the case with Still Austin Whiskey Co.
“It takes time. It does take time,” says Chris Seals, the CEO at Still Austin. “But it’s not just waiting around. Like, this is probably the most dynamic time in our lives, 15 years in.”
For Still Austin, it would take a retirement, state laws to be changed, a new sub-category to emerge, and we haven’t even got to all the toil of assembling a team, sourcing grains, fermenting, distilling, aging, bottling, and packaging.
It was back in 2012 when Cleveland Seals began looking for a retirement project and, hey, wouldn’t opening a whiskey distillery be fun? By that year, American whiskey was still in the early stages of explosive growth, going from 190 proof gallons produced in 2012 to well over 350 million by 2024 according to the TTB. Cleveland asked his son, Chris — who was working as an economist and risk manager at the time, perhaps aptly for this crazy endeavor — to join him. Chris thought success was unlikely and the time commitment would be immense, but at least the time would be spent with his dad, who he had struggled to forge a relationship with after coming out in his 20s.
Credit: Amy McLaughlin
Chris Seals wanted to live life as his true self and wanted to create a whiskey brand based on those values.
“You can’t be your true self when you fake it,” he says. “You have to let people see who you truly are and like that.”
That time with his father would initially start with research — traveling the country trying whiskeys. It was still quite difficult to start a distillery in Texas, until a 2013 law would allow for in-state distillers to sell their spirits directly to consumers as well as offer on-premise tastings.
By 2014, the Seals, along with their partners Andrew and Lisa Braunberg and Sal and Joanna Salinas, had broken ground on a facility in the St. Elmo neighborhood Austin. By 2017, head distiller John Schrepel, who had formerly run operations at New York’s Black Dirt Distillery, had distilled their first liquid using his own unique mashbills. Industry legend Nancy Fraley would advise on the maturation and blending using her signature élevage methods to help them in their grain-to-glass journey.
Yet even from the get-go, it was never solely about the liquid.
“There’s four things that we really want to give people,” says Seals. “We want them to feel deeply human. We want them to feel seen. We want them to feel free to express themselves. And we want them to feel the confidence to be distinct. If you can press those four, you are authentic.”
Still Austin would do this by focusing more on the people — their employees, their co-workers, their fellow artists, their customers — than on the liquid. The bottles have stunning, full-color labels painted by Texas artist Marc Burckhardt. Each label is meant to capture and honor the unique people that live among them in the so-called “Live Music Capital of the World,” whether artists, musicians, or naturalists. Seals has long aspired to use his burgeoning brand to create a new mythology for the creatives in the Austin community. He wanted to inspire these people whether they gave a damn about whiskey or not.
Credit: Amy McLaughlin
But that’s not to say that the whiskey isn’t stellar.
And this is pure Texas whiskey to be clear. It’s made from 100 percent Texas grains grown by Texas farmers and turned into Texas distillate aged in the unique climate of the hot and often erratic Texas Hill Country.
The Musician, Still Austin’s straight bourbon whiskey, uses the same chef-grade white corn that the area’s famous tortilla makers do. The result is a bourbon with a sort of a tropical piña colada note on the nose and palate of rich toffee and brown butter.
The Artist, their straight rye whiskey, employs a mashbill of 100 percent Brasetto rye, creating something wholly unique from the 95/5 rye you might be used to — theirs is like a chocolate-dipped cherry backed by nutmeg, clove, and a spicy cinnamon.
“There’s something special that goes on in our brains when we encounter something that astonishes us,” says Seals. “When the creativity is shocking, it releases a cocktail of hormones that induces wanting. One of the strongest triggers of that is individuality, novelty, and astonishment.” At Still Austin, they do that through flavor and with their one-of-a-kind painted label packaging. “And we do that with how we show up.”
Credit: Amy McLaughlin
Customers are showing up too. Last year saw some 100,000 visitors to the distillery. They come to hang with friends, to be a part of this unique community, to perhaps listen to live music on The Antone’s Stage at Still Austin. But the brand has also attracted fans from the connoisseurial community at large, who chase yearly one-offs like their Blue and Red Corn Bourbons and trade online for special single barrels, especially ones labeled “Nancy’s Pick.”
“That authenticity, it’s actually hard to do,” says Seals. “I think part of the reason that this award means so much to me right now is the things that we strive for now are much more human than they are simply a whiskey product.”
The article Next Wave Awards Rising Drinks Brand of the Year: Still Austin Whiskey Co. appeared first on VinePair.