Origin Story
Desert Door Texas Sotol was born in the West Texas desert, where our founders first encountered the Sotol plant - a spiky desert succulent that, hundreds of years ago, was used by Indigenous residents for everything from tools and food to fermented drink.
Wild Harvested
“Sotol” is both the name of our spirit and the plant we make it from. We wild-harvest all our sotol on ranches across Texas; we don’t farm or cultivate any of our sotol stock. Wild-harvesting is a much more sustainable practice than monocropping and helps conserve valuable resources such as land and water.
100 Proof (ABV 50%)
In Far West Texas, wild Dasylirion texanum (Texas sotol) plants grow wild and weed-like by the millions. When they reach maturity around 10-15 years, our team selectively wild-harvests this plant. Taking only a small number of plants from each acre and leaving root systems intact allows this precious resource to remain wild and plentiful forever. The leaves are trimmed, and the heart of the plant is secured for transport to Desert Door Distillery in Driftwood. To similarly prepare sotols for eating or fermenting, “native Americans dug up the shrubs and removed the slender leaves, using the heart and meat at the base.”
STEP 2
The sotol hearts are loaded one by one into our cookers. They are cooked in steam, which converts the stored energy into sugar. Steaming maximizes the precious juice obtained from the sotol plants and keeps the flavor light rather than smoky. “Inedible raw, after prolonged cooking they turn to a sugary carbohydrate.” After roasting, Native Americans “scooped out and chewed the soft, fibrous pulp in the center to extract the sweet nutritious juice, spitting out the fiber.”
STEP 3
The cooked sotol hearts are individually pressed for their juice. Full of plant sugars, once the dark, molasses-like juice is extracted it’s fermented in tanks for five to six thoughtful days with our organic, proprietary yeast. Depending on environmental factors like climate, we are left with a sotol beer at the end of this process.
STEP 4
The resulting mash is distilled in our custom-built, hybrid still. When it’s through, the Texas sotol averages 155 proof.
STEP 5
Our beautiful spirit is reconciled with water to get to its correct proof. Some at 80 proof goes straight into our bottles, while even less at 120 proof is set aside for barrel aging to satisfy those with a taste for aged spirits. Our rack house in Driftwood is home to many new American oak barrels with a medium char.
Our Oak-Aged Texas Sotol is the result of aging our Original Texas Sotol in virgin White Oak barrels for approximately one year. On the nose, our Oak Aged is akin to a young whiskey, with pleasing notes of vanilla, cedar and caramel. Sipping reveals more vanilla, along with dried cherries and oak. The finish brings back caramel and a creamy smoothness like vanilla custard, with just a hint of eucalyptus.
SOTOL'D FASHIONED
2 oz Desert Door Oak-Aged Texas Sotol
0.25 oz Cane Sugar
2 Dashes Angostura Bitters
Orange Wheel
1 Luxardo Cherry with a spoonful of juice
In an Old Fashioned glass, muddle bitters, sugar, and orange wheel. Remove rind. Add sotol and one large ice cube. Stir. Garnish with a cherry and orange wheel.
TEXAS TODDY
2 oz Desert Door Oak-Aged Texas Sotol
Honey to taste
Earl Grey Tea Bag
Lemon Wedge
5 oz Hot Water
Add sotol and honey to a mug. Stir until combined. Add your tea bag and top mug with boiling hot water. Leave it to simmer for three minutes. Remove the tea bag and squeeze fresh lemon.
*SHIPPING NOTICE- If possible, please use a business address for shipping. All shipments require an adult signature which is much more reliable at a place of business.
All orders usually ship within 24-48 hours unless noted otherwise