There's a distillery sitting in Austin, Texas, that a lot of people outside the whiskey world haven't heard of yet. That's about to change. Still Austin Whiskey Co. just put up numbers that would make even the most seasoned bourbon veterans do a double take, and the story behind how they got here is worth knowing.
In 2025, Still Austin shipped just over 100,900 cases into distribution and depleted nearly the exact same number — 100,542 to be precise. For anyone who follows the spirits business, that kind of alignment between what gets shipped and what actually gets bought off shelves is rare. It means people aren't just stocking it — they're drinking it, buying it again, and telling their friends. Case depletions climbed 45 percent compared to the year before, which the company says is the strongest performance in its history.
To put that in context, the broader American whiskey category has been slowing down. The post-pandemic boom that had everyone chasing allocated bottles and waiting in lines has cooled off for most brands. Still Austin is one of the few exceptions to that trend, and the numbers back it up.
According to Nielsen data, the brand now ranks as the ninth highest-velocity premium American whiskey in the entire country when measured by average revenue per retail store. That's not total sales volume — that's how fast and how profitably the product moves at each location that carries it. The remarkable part is that Still Austin is only available in roughly 5 percent of Nielsen-tracked retail stores across the United States. They're not everywhere yet, and they're already outrunning brands that have been on shelves for generations.
Chris Seals, Co-Founder and CEO of Still Austin, didn't shy away from acknowledging what that means in the context of the industry's history. "We have enormous respect for the Kentucky distillers who built this category. To see our brand competing and, in many markets, outperforming fully distributed legacy producers, confirms that there's real appetite for distinctive, authentic American whiskey," he said. "Our focus now is scaling production thoughtfully, without compromising the quality, flavor, or the creativity that got us here. Everything we're doing is about building a brand that can grow for centuries, not just years."
That's not marketing language. For a brand like Still Austin, the grain-to-glass philosophy is baked into everything they do. The company was founded in 2015 as the first true grain-to-glass distillery in Austin since Prohibition ended. That means they source 100 percent of their grains from local Texas farmers, they control every step of the production process in-house, and every bottle that leaves their facility at 440 East St. Elmo Road started as a raw ingredient they had a hand in selecting. Every employee is also an owner of the business, which tends to focus the mind on quality in ways that corporate structures sometimes don't.
The workhorse of the lineup is The Musician Straight Bourbon Whiskey, which retails for around $45 and has been the engine driving the brand's core volume growth. For a craft bourbon at that price point, it competes in a crowded space, and the velocity numbers suggest it's holding its own against far more established names.
But the real cultural signal of where Still Austin sits right now came with their 2025 release of the Tanager Cigar Blend Bourbon Whiskey, priced at $150. Nearly a thousand people camped outside the distillery overnight to get a bottle. People drove and flew in from more than 16 different states. Enthusiasts came from London, Mexico City, and Vancouver just to stand in line for a chance to walk out with one. That's not a local following anymore. That's the kind of devotion that bourbon brands spend decades trying to build, and Still Austin has it now.
The challenge that comes with that kind of demand is a familiar one in the whiskey world — you can't rush aging. Bourbon takes time in the barrel, and there's no shortcut that doesn't show up in the glass eventually. At the end of 2025, Still Austin held more than 20,200 barrels in storage, all produced in-house. That's inventory they're sitting on while it matures, and it represents a significant amount of working capital that's essentially locked up in wood and time.
To address that, Still Austin announced in February 2026 a financial partnership with FERO, a company built specifically to help wine and spirits producers manage the capital challenges that come with aging inventory. The deal initially unlocks $20 million in working capital, with the capacity to expand to $30 million or more as the business grows. The structure is designed so that Still Austin doesn't have to give up control over how their whiskey is aged or produced — they keep the keys to the distillery while getting access to the financial runway they need to keep filling barrels.
Mitch Fowler, CEO and Co-Founder of FERO, framed the partnership in terms of what drew his firm to the brand in the first place. "For us, the very best brands in the industry are the ones that bring people together in real, meaningful ways," he said. "The strongest brands don't just sell products, they create connections. Still Austin has community and human connectivity baked into their DNA. Beyond the brand itself, the Still Austin team has been incredible to work with as they are clear on the mission, and are thoughtful, ambitious and deeply committed to what they're building. Our partnership with Still Austin is compelling and one we are genuinely excited to champion."
FERO is no small operation. Founded in 2018, the company has deployed over $570 million in capital for wine and spirits businesses globally and secured a $550 million asset-backed program in mid-2025. Their platform also handles supply chain logistics, insurance, freight, and foreign exchange for producers — the unglamorous backend work that determines whether a growing brand can actually scale without losing its footing.
Right now, Still Austin's distribution footprint is centered primarily in Texas, Louisiana, Colorado, and Illinois, with selective placement in a handful of other states. Despite that relatively limited reach, the brand grew in every single market it operated in during 2025. On-premise accounts — bars, restaurants, and the places where people actually discover new whiskey — represented 23 percent of volume in core territories. That's a meaningful number. Bartenders are some of the most influential people in the spirits industry, and when they're pouring something enthusiastically and talking about it to customers, that reputation spreads faster than any advertising campaign.
The direction the company is pointing is clear. Still Austin has publicly stated its ambition to reach one million cases — a benchmark that would place them in genuinely elite company in the American whiskey world. Getting there from 100,000 cases sounds like a long road, but the trajectory they're on and the financial infrastructure they're now building suggest this isn't wishful thinking.
What makes Still Austin's story compelling beyond the business metrics is what they represent in a broader sense. Kentucky has dominated American whiskey for a very long time, and for good reason — the traditions, the water, the climate, and the generational expertise that exists in that part of the country are real advantages. But consumers have been signaling for years that they're interested in something beyond legacy and geography. They want craft. They want authenticity. They want to know where their whiskey comes from and who made it.
Still Austin has been answering that call from a city that doesn't do anything halfway. Austin has always had its own energy, its own creative identity, and its own stubbornness about doing things the right way rather than the easy way. The distillery reflects that — they partner with local artists to design their bottle labels, they've built a community around their brand that drives people to sleep on the sidewalk for a limited release, and they've done it without cutting corners on the liquid itself.
The whiskey world is paying attention. The numbers demand it. A brand that's ninth in velocity among premium American whiskeys while available in only 5 percent of retail stores is not a regional curiosity anymore. It's a national story in the early chapters.
For whiskey drinkers who haven't made their way to Still Austin yet, the window to discover them before they become fully mainstream is still open — but based on the pace of things, it probably won't stay that way for long.
