I am a wheated bourbon fan, particularly Weller and Van Winkle. So, I am always interested to try wheated bourbons. One such bourbon hails from Fort Worth, Texas, from the Firestone & Robertson distillery. TX Texas Straight Bourbon is at least four years old, but I am guessing it is probably six. It is made from an all Texas mashbill: yellow dent Texas corn, Texas soft red winter wheat, 6 row distiller’s barley malt, and a local wild yeast captured from a single Texas pecan. It’s 90 proof.

Now, bourbon purists will say that this isn’t Kentucky bourbon, but in today’s market there are plenty of good bourbons made in Tennessee and Indiana which have a similar climate to Kentucky. But Texas, even Northern Texas, is going to be a much warmer climate in the summer. This will cause stronger interactions with the barrel that will draw out oak flavor and less interactions that draw out the sweet flavors from the barrel.

The appearance is a nice medium amber color with nice long legs. On the nose you get very floral notes and not much else. The palate is really different. It’s all oak and oak spice. None of the usual vanilla, caramel, cocoa, corn syrup, leather, or nutmeat flavors I usually find in bourbon. It’s just oak and oak spice which is way different from rye spice. With an oak finish that lingers on and on and on.

It’s good bourbon but kind of a one trick pony. It’s a good trick though and better than Yellowstone which I tried recently. I am going to keep a bottle around for educational purposes. If I want to show someone what oak and oak spice tastes like in a bourbon, TX is a great example of that with almost nothing else to get in the way.