Balcones brewing 65,000-SF craft distillery in Waco

WACO – Balcones, the Texan whiskey company based in Waco, hopes to widen its global reach with a second whiskey distillery.

Balcones’s new craft whiskey distillery will be housed in the Texan landmark 1923 Waco building — a 65,000-sf fireproof storage unit which is five blocks from the current production site and previously used as a maturation warehouse by Balcones.

Founder Chip Tate said, “This vault of a building is a jewel that has been preserved from Waco’s heyday. Now we hope it will be part of downtown’s rebirth. It is exciting to be able to transform part of Waco’s history to become part of its future.”

Having secured investment from a number of parties, Balcones will build the new distillery to accommodate six sets of stills similar in size to those used by artisan distilleries in Scotland — half of this equipment will be built in-house while the larger stills and tanks will be built by Scottish still-makers Forsyths.

Tate added that the expansion could have taken place sooner, but he “held out” for a certain type of investor to work with — partners that share a commitment to quality over quick return and who are interested in growing a business we can pass on to their children.

The new distillery is set to open in early 2015 following the backing of the new business partners.

Read more at TheSpiritsBusiness.com.