Field Trip: Ironroot Republic Distillery, Denison, Texas
Robert, Marcia, and Jonathan Likarish photo courtesy of Ironroot Republic
About an hour North of Dallas, Texas is the tiny town of Denison, home to one of the best Texas whiskey distilleries you’ve probably never heard of: Ironroot Republic. Opened in 2014, the family-run distillery was started by brothers Robert and Jonathan Likarish and is managed by their mother, Marcia Likarish, while dad John Likarish also helps out. Today there are about a dozen employees counting family members, and current expansion plans will increase both production capacity and storage capacity significantly.
Distilling in Texas
Irontroot Republic Promethean
When Robert Likarish was finishing up in law school, he announced to his family at Christmas dinner that he didn’t really want to be a lawyer and thought he might try his hand at distilling instead. His mother planned a trip to Kentucky to visit some distilleries, stopping at Huber’s Starlight Distillery in Indiana along the way, where Ted Huber advised them to pay a visit to Vendome Copper & Brass Works in Louisville, Kentucky to learn about still options.
Back at home, Jonathan started trying to figure out how to make whiskey in Texas. He settled on heirloom corn, but quickly realized it would be hard to get his hands on enough quantity to make significant amounts of whiskey. Instead, he settled on using the majority yellow dent corn and using some heirloom corn as a flavoring grain, much like Kentucky Bourbon producers use rye or wheat as a flavoring grain in Bourbon.
Building the Distillery
Both brothers went to as many hands-on distilling classes as they could while also looking for a location. The building they settled on was formerly a boat dealership with plenty of space to grow into. The front showroom area houses the distillery and the back warehouse serves as barrel storage. Between the two are offices for all the staff and family members.
Ground has recently been broken for a new, much larger warehouse that will house 2-3 times as many barrels as are in storage now and will also be the new home for the company’s bottling line. Moving the bottling line will make room for a new Vendome Copper Pot Still, which will increase production capacity significantly.
Touring the Facility
Stills at Ironroot Republic photo credit Maggie Kimberl
While production takes place daily, tours are only available on Saturdays. Tours begin with a look at both milled and whole grains — milling is done off site at a local milling house, cutting down on the dust and static electricity in the distillery. There’s currently one cooker on the distilling floor situated right next to the primary stills, which are to the left, and the fermentation vessels, which are to the right.
The primary still is a very large copper pot still from Vendome Copper & Brass Works. The original plan was for it to be taller, but once the space was procured some last-minute changes had to take place. Because of the shortened height, a large onion was placed at the base of the hat just above the pot. The brothers had decided on a significant angle of the lyne arm of the still in order to get heavier congeners over in the distillation process.
In addition to the Vendome still there is also a hybrid Kothe still system on the other side of the room. It has a much smaller capacity but is capable of different styles of distillation with the hybrid column setup.
Barrels at Ironroot Republic rickhouse photo credit Maggie Kimberl
The rickhouse is filled to the brim with barrels. Every corner is stacked as high as the fire marshal will allow. Interestingly, barrels in this room are of varying sizes and configurations. There are lots of former brandy barrels, lots of barrels made from European oak, cognac casks, Sherry butts, and special barrels designed just for Ironroot Republic that have wave-notched American Oak staves with European Oak heads, and those barrels are a little larger than the standard 53 gallon barrels you will see at most distilleries in the United States. The brothers practice elevage, a barrel management system designed for French brandies. Sometimes water may be added to barrels as they age, and sometimes water may be added to the concrete floor of the warehouse to slow evaporation. Barrels are carefully monitored year-round.
Products
Ironroot Republic tasting room photo credit Maggie Kimberl jpg
While the main products made at Ironroot Republic are corn whiskey and Bourbon, they’ve also made plenty of brandies and other spirits throughout the years. The Ironroot name comes from Denison native T.V. Munson, a viticulturist who came up with the idea of grafting Texas grape rootstocks to French wine grapes, saving them from the blight of the late 1800s. The tie-in to Brandy-making is natural for the area.
A tasting of Ironroot Republic whiskeys, including Andromeda coffee-infused whiskey, Apotheosis Sherry-cask finished Bourbon, Harbinger Straight Texas Bourbon, Hubris Texas Corn Whiskey, and Icarus Texas Corn Whiskey takes place in a newly-added lobby just outside the distillery room.
Tours are available every Saturday at noon and 2pm Visit the Ironroot Republic website to schedule a tour.