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Desert Door Celebrates New Sotol Release with Tiki Cocktail Weekend

The distillery’s tasting room is serving up special drinks in honor of the new spirit

Craft distiller Desert Door has launched a new Texas sotol called Third Coast—and you’re invited to try it this weekend. The distillery’s tasting room is celebrating the release of the limited-edition spirit with a trio of island-themed cocktails made with the special alcohol. The drinks are available starting today, June 24, until July 27 at the distillery’s Driftwood tasting room.

The Third Coast cocktails include:

Calico Canyon: A frozen cocktail made with Third Coast Texas sotol, pineapple juice, orange juice, cream of coconut and nutmeg ($12).

Sky Island: A mixed drink crafted with Third Coast Texas sotol, hibiscus and spice-infused Texas sotol, lime juice and demerara ($12).

Stumbling Cowboy: A cocktail composed of Third Coast Texas sotol, lime juice, grapefruit juice, cinnamon syrup, grenadine, velvet falernum and bitters ($14).

Third Coast is the latest entry in the Desert Door’s Explorer Series, a collection of small batch, barrel-aged Texas sotol variants. If you’re unfamiliar with the obscure alcohol, Texas sotol is distilled from Desert Spoon plants native to West Texas. Traditional sotol, on the other hand, is a Mexican spirit made from similar plants grown in Chihuahua, Coahuila and Durango. Sotol tastes different from its cousins, mezcal and tequila.

According to Desert Door, Third Coast was aged in whiskey barrels that originated in Lynchburg, Tennessee. The whiskey barrels then journeyed south to the island of Jamaica, where they were filled with rum. Finally, the barrels made it to the Gulf Coast (also called the Third Coast), where they came to rest in Driftwood, Texas, just south of Austin. Here, the barrels were filled with Desert Door’s Texas sotol. 

The resulting alcohol, says Desert Door, is a unique Texas sotol that offers notes of banana, toffee, honey and sugarcane.

Guests visiting the tasting room this weekend can purchase up to two Third Coast bottles each. The 100 proof sotol is priced $59 per bottle. Only 300 bottles will be released.

If you’re planning on visiting the tasting room this weekend, Desert Door invites all guests to sign up on its Eventbrite page for a chance to win a Third Coast cocktail kit complete with a limited-edition bottle, Desert Door Tiki glassware and ingredients. Desert Door will announce the winner Monday, July 28th.