Click any of the images below for additional pictures, divided by year.
2011
Before the distillery was born, the DeHarts were homebrewing up a storm in their Dallas home, and Quentin Witherspoon was making rum on the side. A chance visit to Dallas by a mutual US Marine Corps friend of Ryan & Quentin brought the original partners together, and after a night of drinking whiskey and plotting an exciting venture into craft distilling,
a plan was formed.
2012
A warehouse was leased, permits were applied for, and a still was being built by hand. And Witherspoon Distillery had become a party of four - Quentin Witherspoon, Ryan DeHart, Natasha DeHart and Laurent Spamer formed the founding management, production, sales and marketing teams. By late summer 2012, Witherspoon Distillery was approved as a fully legal and operational craft distillery. The learning process had begun, a small distributor was on board, and Quentin’s River Rum was making its way into the market. Before long, the crew discovered what would become a never-ending issue - growth in the distilling industry comes with a need for space. And whatever space you think you need, you’ll need significantly more by next year.
2013
Distillery intern Christy Cockrell became the first of several additions to the WD team in the summer of 2013. Little did we know at the time that her project, a grain-to-glass malt whiskey that was later branded as “Cross Timbers”, would eventually alter the direction of the distillery from rum to whiskey.
On September 1, 2013, Texas law changed to allow distillers to pour samples, and on a limited basis, sell cocktails and bottles directly to consumers. That week was spent constructing a bar from fencing remnants, creating a limited cocktail menu, and inviting friends and family for the first ever Witherspoon Distillery tour. On Saturday, September 7th, the first distillery tour took place, the Maple Old Fashioned and Hemingway cocktails were served, and the first official guests visited.
Late in 2013, the distillery brought on a new intern, Chris Leurig, who quickly learned the art of distillation and became a valued member of the team until he branched out to start his own distillery years later in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
2014
The 2013 change in distillery laws had an immediate impact on Witherspoon Distillery. What was solely a spirits manufacturing plant had overnight added “tourist destination”, “bar” and “gift shop” to its title. Through the use of the marketing tool Groupon, distillery tour vouchers purchased through the holidays in 2013 caused tour bookings in early 2014 to explode. What had previously been a few visitors per week, was now hundreds, often with waiting lists. The space constraints that were felt over the past years suddenly became an urgent problem in need of a solution. Witherspoon Distillery needed a new home, and fast. The search for a larger facility, and the potential addition of a new business partner, was in full swing, and by the end of the year, both were nearly finalized.
2015
Early 2015 kicked off rapid change for Witherspoon Distillery. The purchase of the building that was the former home of the local Piggly Wiggly grocery store launched rapid plans for a renovation and a planned late summer move into the new facility. Simultaneously, plans were finalized to bring on minority partner, Sazerac, to assist with the planned growth of the company.
The new Witherspoon Distillery on Charles Street opened on September 25, 2015.
2016
Settling into the new Charles Street distillery and adjusting to new equipment, an expanding team and a growing events schedule took time. What was previously a small operation had quickly become a larger scale manufacturing plant, tourism destination, bar and live music venue. 2016 was a year of team growth and adjusting to a new environment.
Three valuable team members joined Witherspoon Distillery in 2016. These individuals would remain valuable members of the team for years to come.
Mark Davis (Operations, March 2016)
Jacob Peraza (Lead Distiller, November 2016)
Chris Yarnell (Tour Guide, November 2016)
*Check out the wall of fame on your next visit, featuring team members of 5+ years.
2017
2017 was a year of growth for the tasting hall and tourism operation. We added tour guides to our team, applied for and received a health permit to begin offering food, and expanded our cocktail menu exponentially. We bottled our craft Old Fashioned cocktail, which continues to be one of our most popular bottles to date. We created a line of bitters for our craft cocktail menu, and began experimenting with blended whiskeys and liqueurs. Little did we know then that we were building the foundation for what was to come.
2018
Owning a distillery is hard work. The hours are long, the costs are unimaginably high, and the return on investment often takes decades. Early in 2018, Quentin Witherspoon made the difficult decision to accept a full-time position outside of the company, eventually leading to his exit from Witherspoon Distillery. His original partners decided to continue growing the distillery, expanding on their collective vision in the years that would follow.
2019
Change is hard. There’s no way around it. But in the wake of the changes of 2017 and 2018, the team banded together and decided to forge a new path. Whiskey blending and experimentation that began years earlier was now at the forefront. The art of the blend was where the magic happened. Flavors could be pulled from various mash bills, blended to create something new, something even better than the sum of its parts. To make this dream a reality, whiskey production would need to increase, drastically and immediately. With plans that began in 2018, our new and custom “submarine still” was completed early in 2019. By April, it arrived in its new home, and by June, it was making whiskey. Expanded capacity led to further space constraints and the need for outside storage. In 2019, we began storing barrels in our off-site rickhouse. But just as we’d learned before, even more space would be needed soon enough…
Late in 2019, the decision was made to change the distillery name to reflect the new path. With a play on “blending” (not “straight), Witherspoon Distillery became BENDT Distilling Co. in the fall of 2019.
2020
2020 - The year the world broke.
Like so many businesses, 2020 was one of the most difficult times in the history of ours. We made and donated hundreds of thousands of gallons of hand sanitizer to first responders, were forced to close our doors to customers, and nearly lost all we’d worked so many years to build. Like you, post-Covid times couldn’t come fast enough.
For additional information on the events of 2020 and Covid times at BENDT Distilling Co, please click below.
2021
Still battling a global pandemic, 2021 did not start with much improvement over the previous year. Some of the restrictions of 2020 were loosened, but individuals were still cautious about living life as it was pre-Covid. However, by summer, business picked up and we began seeing familiar faces in the tasting hall again. Tours and events resumed, and the world seemed to be on the right track.
By fall, it was clear that life and business would return to “normal”. Whiskey production was back in full swing and we were able to hire additional distiller, Karson Kasberg. And with the holidays just around the corner and BENDT Whiskey Cake sales on the rise, it only made sense to bring on a full time baker. Monica joined our team in November 2021 and helped expand our tasting hall menu offering, now including all fresh-baked breads.
2022
Early in 2022, the time was finally right to release a new kind of Texas whiskey. UNBENDT Bottled-in-Bond series uses Texas grains, is made grain-to-glass in house, and has been aged in a 53 gallon bourbon barrel for more than four years. The time had come to show how Texas grains, Texas distillers and Texas heat can come together to create something truly special and unique to the state we call home. Eventually, all components of our flagship blend, BENDT No. 5, will be released individually through the UNBENDT series.
2022 was also a year for the team members who had survived the pandemic together, working side-by-side through some of the darkest times, to come together and acknowledge that #teambendt held a bond that went beyond the day to day work schedule. The first-ever “BENDT Family Vacation” was taken to Colorado, where we camped by the river for a week, and visited our friends at Colorado Malting Company.