“This is not an employee dispute,” his answer states. “Quite the contrary. This is an attempt to purloin the plump, ripe peach that is Balcones from the founder, Chip, who built it with his own two hands from scratch. This is a private equity group trying to unjustifiably take advantage of a craft distiller and take his ownership of Balcones.”

During testimony Friday, Tate said he still receives a check from Balcones and he has not resigned his executive position. But he added the board “has effectively fired me” by securing a temporary restraining order that forbids him from entering the Balcones facility.

David Dym, a computer forensics expert hired by Balcones Distilling, testified Friday that his examination of Tate’s computer, hard drive and iPhone indicates he cleared information from them on or about Aug. 24, which was shortly after the TRO was issued and Tate was ordered to relinquish the items.

Under cross-examination from Tate’s attorney, David R. Clouston, of Dallas, Dym said he could not definitively say any files related to Balcones Distilling were missing from the devices. He acknowledged it is commonplace for people to put both business-related and personal information on their computers.