Tasting notes

nose

ripe mango and dried banana with vanilla, then dense smoke, black and white pepper, dried chile and cured ham

palate

light malty sweetness turning savory and smoky, with apricot and chocolate

finish

soft and dry; light smoke and roasted chocolate linger

Mash bill

100% malted barley; the split between malts is not published. Ranger Creek cold-smokes about 500 pounds of barley for each batch over Texas mesquite at the distillery, using mesquite from a local cattle farmer. The recipe began as the distillery's Mesquite Smoked Porter, brewed without hops.

Why it's craft

Texas Landmark Mesquite Smoked began life as Rimfire, one of the first Texas single malts and, by the distillery's account, the first single malt smoked with mesquite; it took its new name in 2024. Ranger Creek smokes its own barley in a converted shipping container and takes it from grain to glass in San Antonio, aging it in barrels emptied of its own bourbon.