T

he lands of South Texas are as varied and diverse as the people who settled it. With miles of beaches, coastal wetlands, dense thickets, marshes, coastal plains, fertile blackland prairies and sparse deserts, it’s no wonder the folks around here feel like they can handle anything, anywhere. Having grown up here in the tiny town of Sandia, Master Distiller, Royel Aguilar, certainly personifies that spirit and has worked tirelessly crafting a Vodka that embodies the bold and vibrant essence of the land and people around him.

MESQUITE, mastered.

Royel begins each batch with pure, filtered well water from limestone deposits deep under the distillery. His philosophy on this is as simple as the rest of the ingredients you’ll find in our craft spirits: you can’t make good Vodka without good, quality water. He carries that same uncompromising commitment to quality throughout every facet of the distillation process.

I made this Vodka for my family, friends & neighbors and my name is on every bottle… it’s my responsibility to deliver the best product we can.

Royel Aguilar – master distiller

After creating the smoothest and most well-mannered Vodka he could, Royel’s passion to embody the entirety of South Texas in a single sip, still sat unsatisfied. Sure he had created something pure, rare and arguably perfect, but where were the geography and faces he was so driven to capture? The answer had been silently and stoically staring him in the face his whole life – the humble Mesquite tree. Hearty, hard, heavily armored with thorns and able to weather anything, there was no better personification of South Texas. But how was he to get all of that into his still? Royel developed a truly genius and artisan method for taking the bean pods from the Mesquite, a long valued but forgotten food staple of the indigenous inhabitants, and use the fruity pulp during distillation. The perfected result is now available for your enjoyment in our Distiller’s Reserve, Batch 27 Vodka. Not only had he achieved his very lofty goal to personify an entire culture and landscape in a craft spirit, but in doing so something else happened in the process. Something bigger than we had even aimed or hoped for. He allowed us to take something very special and otherwise geographically anchored, and share it with people throughout the world in their homes and gathering places. We couldn’t think of any goal or reward more appropriate.