As a consequence, a number of folks donated some incredible leathers for us to use: alligator, ostrich, calf, buffalo, lizard, suede, rhino, and elephant. Everyone thought they looked great! They loved the idea that every cap would be different, and that we found such a neat way to extend the life of a pair of boots or showcase pristine leathers that would otherwise be discarded. The tops created with this leather look really good, and every bottle that is secured with these pieces certainly carries a unique piece of F&R history.Īs soon as we started to see how cool the tops were coming out, we decided to show a few to some of the boot makers and leather shops around town. Not to be denied, Rob stepped up next with a pair of Rocky's that he calls his “distiller’s boots.” He calls them his distiller’s boots because they are the pair he wore during our first month of making whiskey. More stamps followed, and now that lizard, and the good times that came with it, are part of TX’s first batch release. So he brought them into the distillery, put them on the workbench, and peeled back some of the stitching to stamp out a leather circle for the top. He says he loved the boots, and had many great times throughout Texas, Colorado, New Mexico and California in them, but they had just gotten a little too tight. Leonard decided to get into the act next, and pulled a favorite pair of lizard skin Tony Lama Boots from his closet. We were so pleased in how these original caps came out that we decided to use a few in our first bottling of TX Blended Whiskey. The leather worked perfectly and looked great on the cap. A pair of Justin’s made sense because their corporate headquarters is just down the street from the distillery. As much as Troy enjoyed the boots, he was compelled to use them for R&D on our cap because the exotic leather was a perfect complement to our premium whiskey. A fine pair of Justin Boots – ostrich in fact. The leather used in the original prototype design of our caps came straight from Troy’s closet. Stop by the distillery and swap stories with us – maybe even bring your own boots for topping off a bottle of F&R spirits we’d love to make you a part of our history. Finally, we add very small pins for reinforcement.Įvery resulting bottle cap is a unique example of fine Western craftsmanship – just like our whiskey. Then we hammer a custom-made wood ring over the leather to secure it to the cork. We then measure the thickness of the leather to determine which cork size to use. Next, we use unique tools to punch out a circle of leather. We acquire exotic skins and different colors of leather from those extra pieces that the boot and saddle makers can no longer use. Now we primarily use leather pieces from the best boot and saddle makers. In the beginning, most of our leathers were re-purposed from boots donated by some of our friends in the community and by visitors to the distillery. We all thought the prototypes were incredibly cool, and we soon partnered with boot-making friends in the community to establish this five-step creation process:įirst, we select the leather. This was no easy feat: four elements in each top have to accommodate varying thicknesses of leather and be replicated on a large scale. Troy designed the caps himself in his wood shop at home.
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