Patrick Garcia
“Union Horse Distillery”
Patrick Garcia always felt at home in the shifting seasons of Kansas. Garcia grew up in Kansas City alongside his older brothers Damian and Eric, and sister Mary, learning early that family ties often form the backbone of a successful enterprise. From their childhood, the Garcias shared a certain restlessness, a conviction that possibility waited in the everyday, whether in a workshop, a field of grain, or the chance to build something new together.
In 2009, the siblings, all in their early to mid-20s at the time, were gathered around their parents’ kitchen table, nursing ideas of a business that they could call their own. At first, they considered a brewery. Beer had roots in their social and local outings. But their course shifted when they toured a small craft distillery during a roadtrip. It struck the group how the processes of fermentation, grain, yeast, and maturation mirrored those of beer, but with room for greater aging, uniqueness, and craft. So at that table that day, the Garcia siblings decided to turn their nascent impulse into something grander: a family distillery.
A few months later, the business plan solidified and first began as Dark Horse Spirits, but the name was soon changed to “Union Horse Distilling Company” (UH). The name "Union Horse" was chosen because they wanted something that illustrated the family’s coming together to start the business, where “Union” emphasizes the cohesiveness of their family and team. They utilized the “Horse” as their mascot because a horse symbolizes strength, courage, and freedom. In 2010, the company hired the late Dave Pickerell, formerly of Maker’s Mark, to assist in getting UH started. Pickerell, known as the “Johnny Appleseed” of craft distilling, had previously consulted for many other well-known distilleries. According to the plan, Patrick was to take on the mantle of Master Distiller, while the others brought complementary skills: Eric as General Manager, Damian as Director of Sales & Marketing, and Mary as Events Director. Together they pledged to operate grain-to-glass, handcrafting whiskey with grain sourced from midwestern farms and aged in oak barrels in a rickhouse that would breathe with the seasons.
Patrick’s role was precise and bold. He oversaw fermentation, distillation, barrel selection, and blending. From the beginning, Union Horse has milled locally sourced grains, used a sour mash process, and distilled in a 500-gallon copper hybrid still nicknamed “Chester Copperpot”. Their bourbon and rye whiskeys mature in Missouri‐oak barrels, at a char level of #3, and are stored in a non–climate–controlled warehouse so that seasonal Kansas fluctuations of heat and cold coax complexity into the spirit. So, in March of 2011, the first barrels of Bourbon and Rye whiskey were laid down for aging.
While the team waited for their whiskies to age, they launched Rider Vodka and Long Shot White Whiskey in April 2012. In March 2013, they followed with their 2 to 3-year-old Reserve Bourbon and Reunion Rye whiskies. In December 2014, their first "special release" was launched: Barrel Strength Reunion Rye Whiskey.
Patrick’s distilling philosophy embraces challenge with restraint. He uses commercial enzymes rather than malted barley to better control liquefaction and saccharification in the mash. He experimented early on with multiple yeast strains, from wine to beer to whiskey versions, until he found ones that delivered desirable flavor. Such technical choices, says Patrick, are part of the craft and are based less on showmanship and more on more reliability and consistency. Union Horse has now developed its signature labels: Reserve Straight Bourbon, and Reunion Straight Rye, whose mash bill made up entirely of 100% rye (single grain). It is barreled at 110 proof and aged 5+ years in new Missouri oak. In 2021, Patrick produced his more daring release: a Port Barrel Finish Reunion Straight Rye, aged first in UH’s signature oak barrels and then finished in ruby port wine casks for sixteen months. The result is said to offer flavors of blackberry, orange, and dark chocolate, a complex palate, and proof that the distillation process can entertain variation while still preserving a core identity. The labels on all of UH’s spirits carry not just brand names but Patrick’s own signature and bottle numbering, an artistic touch that underscores his accountability to and pride in his craft.
Numerous accolades have followed Patrick’s releases, including, to name a few: Esquire’s 2019 “Best Whiskey Distillery in Kansas”, Gold Medal in the 2022 San Francisco Wine & Spirits Competition, Paste Magazine’s "Top 5 Rye Whiskies not Made in Kentucky”, “A-” by Drinkhacker in February 2024, “A+” by liquor.com, Gold Medal/Best in Category at the 2022 NOLA Spirits Competition, Voted “Best Kansas Whiskey” in “Absolute Best Bottle of Whiskey from Each of the 50 States” by UPROXX in November 2023, Double Gold and “Best in Category for American Single Malt” at the 2023 New York Wine and Spirits Competition, and “Top 100 Whiskies of 2022” by Wine Enthusiast Magazine, and others.
The awards are just window dressing that corroborates that Union Horse Distilling is no longer just brothers and their sister, but an industrious, beautiful, talented jumble of aunts, uncles, cousins, and in-laws, as well as many non-related “family” operating as one. Patrick García’s life is then defined by family, partnership and patience. He chose a path not of easy certainty, but of slow accumulation; grain by grain, barrel by barrel, year by year. He pledged allegiance to a family venture, to a place, to a Midwest character that embraced winter’s bite and summer’s heat. In that, Patrick’s story is part technical ambition, part family legacy, part regional homage. He did not start with grand celebrity or flashy marketing; he began with siblings, with grain, with time, and with a gradual, deliberate commitment to humility in craftsmanship. And through it, he has become not just a distiller but a steward of a spirit born in the heartland, a man whose name on a whiskey bottle is a quiet signature of trust, patience, and sweat.
Sources:
Bourbon Guy, “Getting Geeky with Union Horse…”, Eric Burke, July 26, 2016
KCUR/National Public Radio (Kansas City), “Dark Horse Distillery”, Julie Denesha, April 16, 2013
Union Horse website blog, (multiple blogs cited), unionhorse.com
City Lifestyle Magazine. “A Family Affair”, Riley Cowing, citylifestyle.com
The Pitch, “UH Port Finish Rye Release,” Emilee Standlee, August 16, 2021
Contributed by Tracy McLemore, Fairview, Tennessee
