Still Austin Whiskey Co.
The mash is a Central Texas map: white corn out of Texas, red winter wheat grown in Travis County, barley from Brady.1
Why go
Chris Seals puts the buying rule plainly: Still Austin focuses on the grains that are indigenous to this region,
and where a Kentucky bourbon reaches for Ohio Valley yellow corn, this one reaches for the white corn Texas grows for tortillas.1 Joanna Salinas states the rest of it in eleven words: We're a grain-to-glass distillery. We make it all from scratch.
1 The spirit runs off a 42-foot continuous column still designed by Michael Delevante and built by Forsyths in Scotland, which Lisa Braunberg credits for the New Make drinking as clean as it does at 92 proof off a mash of 70 percent corn, 20 percent wheat and 10 percent malted barley.1 It was the first whiskey distillery inside Austin's city limits since Prohibition, started by two married couples and a father-and-son pair: Lisa and Andrew Braunberg, Joanna and Sal Salinas, and Chris Seals with his father Cleveland.1
Order this / avoid
- Buy: the Bottled in Bond Red Corn Bourbon. Five years old, a mash bill of 36 percent Jimmy Red corn, 34 percent white corn, 25 percent rye and 5 percent barley, and $85 for the 750ml. CultureMap reports it at number 7 on Whisky Advocate's Top 20 Most Exciting Whiskies of 2024, on 94 points and as the only Texas bottle on that list.2
- Then: The Musician, the flagship straight bourbon and the name the whole new venue is built around.3
- On the tour, taste the New Make first. It is unaged and clear, and it is the only chance to read the grain with no barrel on top of it.1
- Avoid: planning a night around the music room before September 2026. The Still Austin Quarter has not opened.3
What locals & experts say
- Whisky Advocate, Top 20 Most Exciting Whiskies of 2024, number 7, 94 points, for the Bottled in Bond Red Corn Bourbon, reported by CultureMap Austin. The magazine's stated method is expert panelists ranking on quality, availability, value and an excitement factor, with an international panel tasting blind without producer, origin, age or price. Panelist Shane English's note on the finish:
Charred oak fades to chocolate, coffee, and pecan pie on the finish.
2 - Best of Austin 2026, Distillery: a win, and it is the public-vote half. The Chronicle runs its Readers Poll separately from its Critics Picks, and this is the poll. Finalists were Deep Eddy Vodka, Desert Door and Dripping Springs Distilling.4
- I haven't found an Austin critic who has scored the whiskey. The Chronicle's 2018 piece is a reported feature by a writer who says outright that he is closer to the non-drinker end of the spectrum, and its value is the owners on the record about their grain and their still. Austin Monthly carries launch events and house cocktail recipes built from the brand's own material. So the tasting notes above are Whisky Advocate's panel.1
Good to know
- Where it is, and why two addresses are in circulation. The distillery sits at 440 East St Elmo Road in The Yard, and its city permit is registered to Suite F-1 there. The Still Austin Quarter, opening September 2026, carries the address 4211 Willow Springs Road; CultureMap describes it as a front door to the same property, with the existing tasting room on it. One site.13
- What opens in September: a 15,000 square foot room holding a live music stage, a vinyl lounge, an atrium and a private event space, around 500 capacity, with a cocktail programme from vice president Ken Kodys that includes house-made aperitifs, amaros and herbal liqueurs. Co-founder and CEO Chris Seals frames it as bringing The Musician
to life beyond the bottle
.3 - Hours: the Quarter's published hours, from September 2026, are 4pm to 10pm Wednesday and Thursday, 11am to midnight Friday and Saturday and 11am to 9pm Sunday, and the tasting room moves to match.3
- Hygiene: clean, and the permit trades under a different name. Austin Public Health registers this as Still Austin Distillery, facility 11707657 at 440 E Saint Elmo Rd Suite F-1, scoring 95 in February 2026, 91 and 99 before that. Nothing near the city's 70-point failing line. Six separate businesses hold permits at this one street address, including The Austin Winery, Texas Sake Company and St. Elmo Brewing Co., and none of their scores belongs to this one.5
Verdict
should-visit — A grain-to-glass distillery in the St. Elmo warehouse district that mills, mashes, ferments, distills, barrels and bottles on one site, and whose mash is a Central Texas map: white corn out of Texas, red winter wheat grown in Travis County, barley from Brady. The still is a 42-foot continuous column designed by Michael Delevante and built by Forsyths in Scotland, and the tour flight starts with the unaged New Make at 92 proof so you taste the grain before the wood. The current evidence is the five-year Bottled in Bond Red Corn Bourbon, 36 percent Jimmy Red corn in the mash bill, which CultureMap reports at number 7 on Whisky Advocate's Top 20 Most Exciting Whiskies of 2024 on 94 points and as the only Texas product on that list. The Still Austin Quarter, a music room and cocktail bar on the same property, does not open until September 2026.