What started as a school project between three students in The University of Texas at Austin Master of Business Administration program has grown to become a sotol distillery in Driftwood—the first commercially produced sotol distillery in the United States.
Founders and U.S. veterans Ryan Campbell, Judson Kauffman and Brent Looby first pitched the idea for a boozy business during class. Not only is the trio paving the way for the sotol niche in Texas, but they are also acutely aware of the environment and how to coexist with nature when it comes to harvesting the plant in far West Texas.
“We don’t plant anything,” Campbell said. “We harvest our plants from the wild and take only a small number of plants from each acre over the course of 12 years. Each plant will go that long without being touched again. We also leave the root systems intact, which allows it to regenerate in the wild.”
Sotol is a West Texas and Mexican shrub that grows in the desert and is more commonly known as a desert spoon. Unlike tequila and mezcal, sotol is not made from agave. Once the plant is harvested, the leaves are trimmed and the hearts are loaded for transport to the distillery. After reaching the distillery, the hearts are cooked with steam, which converts the stored energy into sugar. They are then pressed for their juice and fermented in tanks for five to six days, where they are combined with organic, proprietary yeast.
