Making BENDT Whiskey
BENDT whiskey is made from
local Texas grain, grown just down the road from the distillery.
Do you know your local farmer? We do.
#graintoglass
Local grain
Here at BENDT, we believe that using local ingredients is the best way to create the most delicious whiskey possible, while also supporting local farmers, seed companies and malt houses. Our grains come from local farms via MBS Seed (Denton, TX), and our malt is from both TexMalt (Ft. Worth, TX) and Maverick Malt House (Wilderado, TX). And where does that grain go once we’ve finished distilling our whiskeys? Right back to local farms to feed Texas cattle. #supportlocal isn’t just a tagline for us here at BENDT, it’s a way of life. #drinklocal
Mashing & Fermentation
Once we’ve received our local grain, we mill it in-house and convey it into either our mash tun or our corn cooker. Once mashing is complete, we pitch our yeast and begin fermentation. This process can take anywhere from a few days, up to two weeks, with each of our fermentation vessels holding over 2000 gallons of mash.
Distillation
Once the fermentation process is complete, and we have converted as much of the sugar in the grain as possible to alcohol, we transfer the wash (a.k.a. distiller’s beer - 8% abv) from the fermentation vessels over to our strip, or wash still. During this first distillation, alcohol is extracted from the wash, and the resulting low wines (25% abv) are transferred to our finishing, or spirit stills. The same process is repeated, but when the spirit comes off of the finishing stills, it is now ready for barrel aging.
Barrel Maturation
Although we do produce a few unaged spirits, the vast majority of our whiskeys and other craft spirits are barrel aged. In the case of our whiskeys, all are aged a minimum of 9 months, with most resting in a barrel for 2-4 years, some longer. At BENDT, we make blended whiskey, bourbon, rye, wheat, malt and light whiskeys, as well as experimental small batches of gin, agave spirit, brandy, rum, vodka and various liqueurs.