Mike Chapline
Michael Dale Chapline was born in April of 1958. The founder of Chapline Distillery in Bulverde, Texas, did not build his company around sourced whiskey or mass production. Instead, he established a grain-to-glass nanodistillery where bourbon is mashed, fermented, distilled, barreled, matured, and bottled on site, with Texas-grown grain forming the foundation of the spirits. His objective has remained deliberately focused: produce some of the best bourbon in Texas, help others learn the craft, and continue learning himself.
Chapline’s family's deep roots in whiskey-making originate from Frankenstein, Missouri, and he went on to attend college at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, and at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He trained as a nuclear engineer and served as a submarine officer in the United States Navy before retiring from military service. Since then, he has led diverse teams around the world, serving as a leader at HEB Grocery Company and at Capital Group Companies.
Chapline Distillery began establishing its public identity in 2020. The trademark application for Critical Batch Texas Bourbon was filed on July 22 of that year, and the distillery was selling Critical Batch releases by 2021. By January 2026, Chapline Distillery was marking its fifth anniversary, placing its beginning in early 2021. The distillery operates in the Texas Hill Country, and its modest scale supports Chapline’s emphasis on direct supervision, single-barrel bottling, and personal interaction with visitors. Critical Batch Texas Bourbon became the distillery’s flagship whiskey. Its mash bill contains two grains: locally grown white corn from South Texas and malted barley from the Texas Panhandle. The absence of rye or wheat keeps the recipe unusually concise, allowing the corn and malted barley to define the whiskey. Chapline makes the bourbon from scratch, distills it through equipment constructed entirely of Revere copper, bottles each barrel separately, and releases Critical Batch at 110 proof. Critical Batch also displays the connection between Chapline’s whiskey work and his naval service. In April 2023, the distillery released a Guardfish edition named for the nuclear-powered submarine USS Guardfish (SSN-612). The whiskey came from a single 18-gallon barrel and produced only about 70 bottles. The release was sold exclusively at the distillery and carried the Certified Texas Whiskey designation, confirming that it met the Texas Whiskey Association’s requirements for whiskey fermented, distilled, matured, and bottled in Texas.
As Chapline’s barrel inventory matured, Critical Batch reached another important stage. In October 2023, the distillery announced its first barrel of Critical Batch Straight Bourbon Whiskey to pass the two-year aging mark. Under federal standards, bourbon may carry the designation “straight” after spending at least two years in new charred-oak containers. Reaching that threshold allowed Chapline to extend the same two-grain formula into Texas Straight Bourbon while maintaining the distillery’s single-barrel approach and 110-proof bottling strength.
Chapline expanded his bourbon work through Meticulum Texas Bourbon, a three-grain whiskey that adds malted, caramelized triticale to South Texas white corn and Texas Panhandle malted barley. Triticale is a hybrid of wheat and rye, giving the mash bill a grain that carries qualities associated with both parent cereals. Meticulum remains a single-barrel whiskey, but it is bottled at cask strength rather than at the fixed 110 proof used for Critical Batch. Its documented flavor profile includes salted caramel, clove, and a full-bodied texture.
Further experimentation produced Cannonade, a cask-strength bourbon incorporating blue corn in addition to the grains used in Meticulum. Its flavor profile adds floral and earthy elements, and the whiskey has appeared in partnerships involving the Alamo and Bohanan’s Prime Steaks and Seafood in San Antonio. Cannonade earned a double gold medal from the American Craft Spirits Association and an 88-point silver medal at the 2026 USA Spirits Ratings. The distillery’s Texas Straight Bourbon received an 86-point silver medal in the same 2026 competition.
Mike is married to Carmel Chapline; Carmel volunteers with the local library, but also works at the distillery in her spare time. Their son Mike, Jr., or “Chappy” as he is better known, acts as Chapline distillery’s lead distiller. The distillery operates as a veteran-owned and family-run operation. It is a true family effort, where hospitality, flavor and good times are abundant. At Chapline Distillery, those experiences converge in whiskey made on a deliberately intimate scale—Texas grain transformed in copper equipment, matured in individual barrels, and released with the identifying character of each cask intact.
Sources:
Chapline Distillery official website, chaplinedistillery.com
Texas Whiskey Association, “Chapline Distillery,” April 13, 2026, texaswhiskey.org
San Antonio Report, “Mike Chapline-Author Profile”, sanantonioreport.org
USA Spirits Ratings, “Texas Straight Bourbon Whiskey—Silver Medal”, 2026, usaspiritsratings.com
Bulverde Spring Branch Chamber of Commerce, “Chapline Distillery,” bulverdespringbranchchamber.com
Contributed by Tracy McLemore, Fairview, Tennessee
