Treaty Oak Distillery: Austin's Worst Kept Secret

Treaty Oak Distillery Making a Name For Itself by Randy Lankford
Pssst, don't say anything, but Daniel Barnes is making rum in Austin. Not a lot, just a couple hundred cases a month. But that's fine with him. He wants to keep his Treaty Oak Distillery small. That way he can focus on the fun parts of making a whole line of unique spirits without having to spend all his time on the less fun parts.
He might want to work on his strategy though. In addition to rum, he's also making gin and sweet tea-flavored vodka. He'll be releasing a clear vodka and an aged rum soon and he's toying with the idea of creating his own whiskey. Distilling and distributing six different spirits is not the best way to keep a low profile in Texas.

Daniel Barnes

Treaty Oak began as a collaboration between Barnes and his father in law, Bruce Graham. "It started out as a vision of handcrafting a quality product," Barnes explains. "Phil's background is in engineering and I grew up in the food service business so it was sort of natural that we try to create something unique in the food and beverage world."
While Graham was designing the stills being used at Treaty Oak, Barnes was working out the recipe for his rum. Using molasses from the last sugar mill in Texas and Hill Country spring water, the two have developed a rum that's so smooth it's compared to high-end vodkas. "I come from a wine background," Barnes adds. "I've been involved in food and beverage most of my life and back in the early 2000's I got out of the business after I met my wife but I stayed very active in home brewing and made my own wine at home. I saw what was going on in the craft distilling movement in the Pacific Northwest and California and I decided it would be really fun to open a distillery here in Texas and do things a little differently than what was out on the market so far."
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