Although Houston has been a resident of our great city since 2002, his family’s roots run deep in the rich soil of the Rio Grande Valley. By various twists and turns, those same roots also put Houston on the path to becoming a master spirit maker. As he tells it: “My great-grandfather, Vance Raimond, ran the first legal moonshine still in the state of Texas since Prohibition. This was at the Texas Centennial Expo in 1936. He set up on the Midway of the state fairgrounds and attracted a great deal of attention. Unfortunately, that included the IRS, who wasted little time in shutting his operation down!”

Fast-forward three-quarters of a century to 2014. That’s when Houston joined Yellow Rose Distilling as our brand mixologist. While he enjoyed exercising his creativity with our cocktail menu and interacting with fellow whiskey fans in our tasting room, he always harbored grander ambitions. One short year later, Houston started pulling double duty, tending bar by day, and apprenticing in whiskey production at night. After two years of intense study, he had achieved his goal of learning all he could about the “why” and “how” behind quality spirits, earning the title of Yellow Rose’s Head Distiller in the process.

Ask Houston to tell you what he loves most about the job he’s held since 2017, and his passion for whiskey becomes quickly apparent. “Being the first to taste that something special, straight from the barrel and before anyone else in the world,” he says. But, as much as he considers the “the spirit run” — the moment the whiskey starts flowing off of still during its second distillation — a magical experience, Houston also appreciates that it takes grit and meticulous attention to detail to get there.

“Most days are a repeat of the previous,” he explains. “Maintain records. Load the still. Run the still. Make the cuts. Measure the yield. Fill barrels. Taste barrels to see where they are in their maturation timeline. Create blends of barrels by tasting more. Evaluate batches after bottling by tasting even more. But let me tell you: tasting days can wear you out!”

How does Houston stay resilient? The loving support of his family no doubt helps, as does his Eagle Scout training. (Houston continues to carry forward the scouting tradition by serving as a den leader for his son’s Cub Scout pack.) He also does what he can to keep his sense of adventure as keen as his palate. Day trips, urban excursions and travels down Texas’ scenic highways feature prominently on his social calendar.

All in all, Houston embodies the legendary qualities that we’ve celebrated at Yellow Rose since our founding: entrepreneurial daring, independence of thought, a commitment to craft, and a healthy respect for the diverse stories that make up the history of our city and our state. And he expresses this best when he describes what he’s looking for each time he begins a new batch of Yellow Rose Whiskey: “An opportunity to not just repeat success, but improve on it.”