Got a good one for yall today. We got Davin Topel from Real Spirits, and we have a great conversation about life, whiskey, real estate. Hope you enjoy
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From Grain to Glass:
The Real Spirits Way
Real Spirits emerged from deep roots of craft brewing in the Texas Hill Country.
After 21 years of building a solid foundation of beer, we launched the Real Spirits Distilling program in 2017. Our owner, Brad Farbstein, is as passionate about unique handmade spirits as he has always been about craft beer. In October 2014 he filed for a distillery permit and began tinkering away to create what would become Real Spirits. In April 2017, after years of experimentation and fine-tuning, we launched Real Spirits to the public out of our tap room with Texas Hill Country Signature Whiskey, Grain to Glass Gin, and the highly limited first batch of Single Barrel Whiskey.
It starts with beer
All Real Spirits starts with – of course – a foundation of Real Ale beer. Currently, Real Ale’s Devil’s Backbone Belgian-style Tripel and the award-winning Real Heavy Scotch Ale are used to make our signature and single barrel whiskey, and White, a Belgian-style wheat ale, is the base beer for our gin. This means we make all Real Spirits liquors grain-to-glass. They are brewed, fermented, aged, bottled, and served on-site at the brewery and distillery in Blanco.
Distilling the good stuff
Real Spirit’s whiskey process begins as any other day at the brewery. Our brewers brew beer for distilling the way they normally would. The only difference is that they forgo the addition of hops during the brewing stage. This is then fermented to about an 8% ABV beer. Our distiller fills the 1100 liter hand-hammered copper pot still with the beer and brings it to the boiling point of ethanol (around 170F degrees). The steam that is generated is then pushed through the lyne arm into the condenser where it is introduced to a cold environment, turning the steam back into a liquid. This liquid is cut into three portions, heads, hearts and tails (beginning, middle, and end of the distillation). Only the hearts are collected and barreled for a determined period of time. As the whiskey ages, we taste each barrel and determine when the spirit has matured. Finally, the spirit is harvested from each barrel and mingled together for bottling.
Whiskey Sour
A whiskey sour is yours for the making year-round. It’s refreshing enough to keep up with a spritz during the warm summer months, but appropriate during the colder seasons of the year as well.
Ingredients
2 oz. Real Spirits Texas Hill Country Whiskey
Juice from 1 lemon
1 1/2 tsp agave nectar
Cherry
Lemon wedge
cocktail glass
ice
Directions
Pour Signature whiskey into a shaker of ice.
Add lemon juice and agave necatar
Shake lightly
Strain into a cocktail glass full of ice.
Garnish with a cherry and lemon wedge
Enjoy!
Ginger’d Ass
Finish with the ginger beer of your choice. We like Maine Root Ginger Brew.
Ingredients
2 oz. Real Spirits Texas Hill Country Whiskey
1 sprig of rosemary
1 lime wedge
ginger beer
cocktail glass
ice
Directions
Pour Signature whiskey into a shaker of ice.
Add rosemary and lime wedge
Shake well.
Strain into a cocktail glass full of ice.
Top with ginger beer.
Enjoy.
