This year marks a decade since trail-blazing Balcones Distilling exploded onto the craft whisky scene, founding the very first Texas whisky tradition, whilst establishing a totally independent and pioneering approach to whisky making.

The world-class Texas Distillery will be marking its 10^th Anniversary with an extraordinary range of limited edition releases to the US and UK markets alongside a series of bespoke events hosted at their Waco-based home.

Kicking off in March with the first ever release of Texas Rye, the Distillery will be offering Balcones lovers the chance to enjoy both a limited-edition Cask Strength expression – bottled at 62.5% ABV –  and a 100 Proof release – bottled at 50% ABV. The 100 Proof expression will join Balcones’ core range of products alongside the existing award-winning products: Baby Blue, Brimstone, Texas No. 1 Single Malt and Rumble.

Both expressions of Texas Rye have been twice pot-distilled, made with 100% rye. This comprises 80% raw Elbon rye from north and northwest Texas, including some Crystal, Chocolate and Roasted rye varieties to finish the recipe off.

Head Distiller Jared Himstedt said: “We are so proud to finally be releasing our first ever Texas Rye expression this year to celebrate our first decade as a Distillery.”

“The final rye mash bill that we’ve landed on is primarily made up of Texas Grown Raw Elbon Rye but also utilizes three different specialty Ryes from Weyermann Specialty Malts. If you’re familiar with the way we traditionally put mash bills together, you’ll see this is a slight variation on our standard method of producing a whisky made from only one type of grain in that while we did stick to a 100% Rye mash bill, we did so by using four different kinds of Rye for a rich chocolate character along with more traditional “rye spice” notes.”

“During the first quarter of 2018 we are focusing 85% of our production capacity solely to Rye which means putting nearly 1,000 new barrels of Rye Whisky into our warehouses. These two products – Cask Strength and 100 Proof Rye – are a culmination in several years of exploration in our distilling journey. We hope Balcones fans will enjoy them as much as we do.”

Rye will remain the focus for the first part of the year – Jared and his Distilling team will then continue to release a series of 10^th Anniversary commemorative bottlings throughout the second half of the year. Each one of the decade celebration releases have been carefully selected to tell another chapter within the Balcones story. A total of 10 expressions will be showcased throughout the year – in addition to the Distillery’s usual annual releases – and will be available in limited quantities within key US markets and in the UK.

In addition to the whisky itself, Balcones Distillery is opening its doors throughout 2018 with a series of bespoke and exclusive events, inviting whisky lovers to enjoy its Texan home and hospitality. Ranging from VIP music evenings with leading local Texan musicians, to first-class food and whisky themed evenings and tastings, there will be something for all lovers of gastronomy, whisky and culture to enjoy. The 10^th Anniversary event programme will kick off with RyeFest – The Rye Release Weekend celebration – on Friday 9^th and Saturday 10^thMarch. For further information, go to www.balconesdistilling.com

Balcones Texas Rye will be available in the US from 10^th March and in the UK at the end of March. The Cask Strength release will be available in very limited quantities only from the Distillery and select UK retailers.

Distilled in Texas. Distinguished in Taste.