Austin, Texas’ slogan is both a testament to the city’s offbeat character and a call-to-action. “Keep Austin Weird” was coined some 20 years ago, created in support of the city’s many independent businesses. But some grumble that Austin has already lost some of its “weird” in the ensuing decades, due in part to the influx of corporate offices, tech firms, and high-rises.
So where does that clash leave the city’s drinks culture?
“I feel like it’s really professional, but also it’s Austin, so it’s laidback,” Kelsey Caudebec tells me of the local bar scene. The city’s nightlife often feels like an amalgamation of the sophisticated and the casual, where business professionals and chilled-out college kids are on a common mission when it comes to playtime: finding a good watering hole.
Caudebec, who’s been a bartender at a local craft cocktail bar, The Tigress Pub, since 2015, says that her longevity there is the result of its relaxed setting. Only two other bartenders work at The Tigress, and for the last four years, they’ve managed not only to create cocktail menus and plan events together, but have even gone on group trips.
“We’re like family at this point,” Caudebec says. “I’ve only been around bartending for seven years. I started out in a dive bar—which I’m so grateful for—but mostly I’ve worked in craft cocktails for the bulk of my career. There’s a thriving craft cocktail community [in Austin] and I feel really supported.”
The Tigress is a small bar—it seats fewer than 10 people—with a big heart; in some ways, it’s emblematic of Austin’s distinctive scene. “We’re a craft cocktail bar, but we’re so neighborhoody. I love that it’s so laidback,” Caudebec says.
“I could wax poetic about the importance of bars as community spaces over millennia. Mainly it’s a social aspect, right? I hope one day when I die, I’m a plaque on the bar.”
And, she points out, it wouldn’t be anything without its regulars. “We have a regular who passed named James. He was a motorcycle racer in his 70s and he was there all the time and loved talking to people. When he passed away, we went to his memorial and there’s a plaque on the bar for him,” Caudebec says. “I could wax poetic about the importance of bars as community spaces over millennia. Mainly it’s a social aspect, right? I hope one day when I die, I’m a plaque on the bar. Now people ask us to tell them about James. That’s how we live on. It’s in the hearts and brains of others.”
Nailing the atmosphere is one thing. But when it comes to the art of cocktail-making, particularly whiskey-based cocktails, Caudebec says her ethos comes down to what’s in the glass, and that she’s largely “inspired by the components that [she] already finds in the whiskey.” Luckily for her, there’s never been a better time to take that approach.
In the last decade, the Lone Star State has experienced a whiskey boom. Ask any bartender, including Caudebec, and they’ll tell you that Texas, particularly Austin and the nearby Texas Hill Country, is home to some of the best craft whiskeys in the nation. And of the growing crop of new distilleries, one of the region’s clear standouts is Milam & Greene: an independent, women-owned whiskey brand.
Heather Greene is now the CEO, master blender, and partner of Milam & Greene, but she wasn’t quite sold on the idea of pursuing a job in whiskey at the start of her career in the spirits industry. In New York City, Greene experienced her first professional whiskey tasting while working as a waitress for renowned restaurateur Danny Meyer. “We had a whiskey tasting and I remember that being what I would put with Coke when I was 14. I still wasn’t invested, but I thought [whiskey] was interesting,” Greene says. In the same block of time, Greene was pursuing her career in music as a singer-songwriter.
Four years after that waitressing gig, Greene ended up in Edinburgh, Scotland, and that’s when her perspective on the spirit changed. By then, she had developed a more nuanced appreciation of whiskey, enough to spend two years at the Scotch Malt Whisky Society. But then she and her Austin, Texas-based brother-in-law had a conversation in which she mentioned wishing there were a job where she could be surrounded by whiskey on a daily basis.
Several months later, the same brother-in-law sent her a listing for a New York-based whiskey ambassador job for Glenfiddich. Greene was hired on the spot. The continuous back-and-forth between New York and Scotland proved a heavy weight to bear, however, so she ultimately decided to get back into bartending and music. In the interim, she landed a book deal and wrote Whiskey Distilled: A Populist Guide to the Water of Life.
In a twist of fate, Greene’s acclaimed book eventually landed in the hands of Marsha Milam. Milam is the founder of the Texas-based Ben Milam Whiskey and was interested in growing the burgeoning whiskey brand. Serendipitously, Milam was also a music producer, and was mutual friends with a musician Greene knew.
“It was like a sign from the gods that I needed to do this because there was the full circle of her having friends in the music industry. We have this one music friend in common who was from Austin, who happened to do all the strings from my first record,” Greene says. This mutual acquaintance informed Greene of the music producer—Milam—who started a whiskey brand, and introduced the two. It would prove a fateful meeting.
Greene initially came on as a consultant for Ben Milam. She met master distiller Marlene Holmes during an early visit, and the connection between the two was instant.
“[Greene’s] got a world of knowledge and experience in the business underneath her belt, too. It was very refreshing to find out later on that she was coming on board with us. I just thought that this just keeps getting better and better. She was a big part of the puzzle that was left to be put in place to really give us a great team that we’ve got now,” Holmes says.
Holmes is a 27-year veteran in the whiskey world, who had come to Ben Milam from Jim Beam. Timing and a mutual acquaintance had played an integral part in Holmes’ involvement with the distillery, as well as the desire to trade the big Beam world for that of a small, craft distillery.
“I had some perspective on the [craft spirits] business. When I came on, the general rule is when you start, you nurture your home base, your home state, and your home environment. For us, it’s Austin, San Antonio, and it’s Texas. When COVID came around, it turned that upside down.”
Alongside Milam and Holmes, Greene rounds out the company’s women-helmed leadership team—a rarity in the whiskey world. One exception is Jordan Osborne, the distillery’s chief brewer. Osborne recently created the brand’s first-ever grain-to-glass, Straight Bourbon Whiskey, which is only available in the distillery itself. Just seven barrels were used to create the bourbon, which has a mash bill of 70% corn, 22% malted rye, plus 8% malted barley. It was made using a proprietary yeast known for its ester-heavy character, and was pot-distilled in a 300-gallon copper still. The result is enticing with aromas of vanilla, brown sugar, cocoa, and baking spices. Upon first sip, the vanilla shines through before revealing a hint of toasted oak. The bourbon is made complete with a welcoming spicy, lingering finish.
Milam & Greene’s portfolio also includes its flagship Triple Cask Bourbon and Port Finished Rye. The Triple Cask Bourbon is a blend of three straight bourbon whiskeys, and has a velvety mouthfeel with pops of vanilla and unexpected floral notes. The Port Finished Rye is batched in Texas, yet finished in port wine casks from Portugal, resulting in a rich and complex rye that works neat or in cocktails.
“So, I looked at it like, ‘Look at this team. It’s a whiskey-making dream team,’” Greene reflects on her decision to come onboard. “You’ve got this distiller that can’t make a bad whiskey even if she tried. It’s in her essence. [Osborne’s] an incredible beer maker. He spent probably close to eight years just making beer. Then you have Marsha, who is really this amazing thinker at putting things together like a great founder does.”
In 2018, Caudebec met Greene at a bourbon cocktail competition called Bourbon, Bluegrass, and Barbecue. Greene, one of the judges of the competition, enjoyed Caudebec’s presentation and winning Manhattan-style cocktail, which she named the Palm Reader, and which was composed of coconut-fat-washed bourbon, Bonal Gentiane Quina, Bitter Bitch Ginger Bitters, salt tincture, and lemon oil. The garnish was an edible flower that was cut straight from a pot of blossoms Caudebec had brought to the event.
At the time, Greene was still living in New York. Then, six months later, Greene texted Caudebec, telling her about her forthcoming role at Milam & Greene, and asking if they could collaborate. “Obviously I wanted to do that because she’s a badass and she’s a world-famous whiskey expert. Plus, she’s just really smart and a great mentor,” Caudebec says.
The following year, in 2019, Caudebec took on a mixologist/brand ambassador gig with Milam & Green, in addition to her bartending work. Pre-pandemic, her primary role was crafting cocktails with Milam & Greene whiskey alongside bar consulting in the tasting room. In addition to pre-Prohibition classics, she finds the brand’s spirits work well in a range of experimental contexts. “Austin loves tiki. It took me a long time to come around to tiki cocktails, but now I embrace them—more non-traditional usages of them. Either of our whiskeys can work in a tiki drink; [I like] the Port Finish Rye with a tiny bit of passionfruit and maybe some Ancho Reyes liqueur and lime.”
But now, Caudebec—and the rest of the distillery—is adjusting to the year’s unpredictable circumstances.
“I had some perspective on the [craft spirits] business,” says Greene. “When I came on, the general rule is when you start, you nurture your home base, your home state, and your home environment. For us, it’s Austin, San Antonio, and it’s Texas. When COVID came around, it turned that upside down.”
“We’re the only Texan distillery that does everything under one roof. If you see our bottle [...] you can be confident that what you’re purchasing and drinking is going to be an excellent whiskey.”
For the last six months, Greene has had to rethink the distillery’s overall game plan. The pandemic has impacted everything from how the business operates and grows to its staffing and how it uses resources. “If a staff member has been trained to be an on-premise ambassador, how do you take that person’s skills and translate it to something that could work in a new way of doing business that COVID has created essentially?” Greene reflects. “So, it’s created a lot of pivoting and a lot of empathy. Those who have empathy can understand where other people are coming from and what their struggles are during this time; [they’re] the ones you can meet and do business with.”
Despite the challenges, the company is still managing to expand its footprint. Milam & Greene was born with the intent of becoming a nationally esteemed brand, and will be in fresh territories across the U.S. soon. By December 2020, the distillery’s whiskey will be distributed in 10 states, including Illinois, Florida, New York, and more. “COVID has forced us to change how we do business. It’s forced me personally to embrace my grit,” says Greene.
It’s this perseverance that helps keep the company afloat during tough times, but the quality whiskey-making is what will ensure it builds a lasting legacy. “We bring in port barrels from Portugal to finish. We blend, we batch, we distill right onsite—which is the grain-to-glass—and we do independent bottling,” Greene says. “The beauty of what we’re doing is we do it all under one roof. We’re the only Texan distillery that does everything under one roof. If you see our bottle—as Marsha always says—you can be confident that what you’re purchasing and drinking is going to be an excellent whiskey.”
Words by Gabrielle Pharms Graphics by Ryan Troy Ford 
