Troy Robertson
Troy Randall Robertson was born in February of 1977. A native of Midland, Texas, he graduated from Midland High School in 1995 and later attended Texas Tech University. Fascinated from an early age by how things were made, Robertson entered the oil-and-gas industry as a young adult and spent approximately a decade in the energy business. That experience placed him inside one of Texas’s defining industries. But a growing interest in whiskey eventually redirected his career toward an entirely different kind of liquid commodity.
While still working in energy, Robertson began studying whiskey production in his spare time. What started as a hobby became an increasingly serious pursuit as he learned about fermentation, distillation, maturation, blending, and the distinctions among American whiskey styles. Robertson became especially interested in the possibility of building a whiskey company rooted in Texas rather than merely reproducing an established Kentucky or Tennessee model, though at that time, North Texas had no mature craft-whiskey industry, leaving him without a local blueprint to follow.
Robertson was already acquainted with his eventual business partner, Leonard Firestone, through their young children, although neither man initially realized that the other was separately investigating the craft-distilling business. One day, Robertson arranged to visit an operating craft distillery, but was surprised to learn that during his visit another prospective distiller was also scheduled to arrive. That visitor turned out to be his friend Firestone. Their independent plans quickly became a common enterprise, and in 2010 they established Firestone & Robertson Distilling Company in Fort Worth.
The two founders brought different professional backgrounds to the venture, but neither had previously worked as a commercial distiller. They pursued federal, state, and local approvals, a process Robertson said required more than two years and included a federal application approximately 220 pages long. They also found a Prohibition-era warehouse south of downtown Fort Worth, and converted it into a working distillery. The building became the home of two copper pot-column hybrid stills manufactured to the company’s specifications. Robertson and Firestone then hired distiller Rob Arnold and began developing a house whiskey identity. Their first commercial product, TX Blended Whiskey, was released in June 2012. It combined selected sourced whiskeys into a proprietary blend, allowing the company to enter the market while its own bourbon matured. Its visual identity was deliberately Texan: bottle caps were made by hand with leather collected from local cowboy-boot makers, canvas around the neck evoked covered wagons, and silver-colored detailing reinforced the brand’s Western presentation.
TX Blended Whiskey moved quickly beyond its initial Texas market. In 2013, it received a Double Gold Medal and the designation of Best American Craft Whiskey at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. Demand in Texas produced store waiting lists, and distribution expanded into Louisiana that October. Robertson’s work was therefore not limited to making whiskey. He helped build a brand, establish distribution, raise capital, develop production capacity, and present TX as a premium product capable of competing outside the regional craft market. However, the company’s long-term objective was its own fully Texas-made bourbon. Firestone & Robertson used yellow dent corn and soft red winter wheat grown in Texas, along with barley and rye supplied by Sawyer Farms near Hillsboro. Its proprietary yeast was isolated from a Texas pecan, strengthening the whiskey’s connection to the state at the microbial as well as agricultural level. TX Straight Bourbon was distilled and aged in North Texas, where intense seasonal heat accelerated the whiskey’s interaction with its barrels. Released in December 2016 after approximately five years of maturation, it became the first straight bourbon produced in North Texas.
By then, Robertson and Firestone had already committed to an expansion far beyond the capacity of the original operation. In 2014, they acquired the former Glen Garden Country Club in southeast Fort Worth. The historic property had associations with golfers Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson, who had worked there as caddies before becoming major champions. Firestone & Robertson preserved significant features of the grounds while transforming the property into Whiskey Ranch, a 112-acre production and hospitality complex with a large column still, visitor center, tasting tavern, event space, and views of downtown Fort Worth. Whiskey Ranch was finally ready to open in 2017, and it gave Robertson’s company the industrial capacity and public presence required for national growth. Promoted as the largest whiskey distillery west of the Mississippi River, it represented a dramatic advance from the founders’ early days of filling bottles themselves and struggling to produce one pallet of TX Blended Whiskey per day. The original Fort Worth warehouse had proved that TX Whiskey could attract consumers; Whiskey Ranch demonstrated that its founders intended to build a company with the scale, visitor experience, and production infrastructure of a major American distillery.
That expansion also made Firestone & Robertson attractive to international spirits companies. The founders received more than one acquisition approach before accepting an offer from Pernod Ricard, the Paris-based owner of several already-established whiskey brands. Robertson liked the idea that Pernod Ricard possessed the distribution network, capital, and marketing resources required to place TX Whiskey in many more markets. So on August 5, 2019, Pernod Ricard announced an agreement to acquire Firestone & Robertson Distilling Company, including the TX portfolio and Whiskey Ranch. Robertson and Firestone relinquished full control of the company they had created, but the transaction joined TX to one of the world’s largest wine-and-spirits organizations. Pernod Ricard identified TX as a super-premium American whiskey brand with substantial growth potential and emphasized both its strong regional following and distinctive Texas presentation. Robertson and Firestone, in turn, framed the transaction as an opportunity to accelerate the brand’s expansion while protecting its Fort Worth roots and established values. Robertson remained associated with TX through 2021, completing a transition that carried the business from independent startup to global corporate ownership.
Robertson subsequently turned his attention to another Texas-based venture, founding DialedN Outdoors in 2023 as a marketplace serving outdoor enthusiasts. His whiskey career nevertheless left a clear record: a former energy executive helped create North Texas’s first craft bourbon-and-whiskey distillery, introduced TX Whiskey, built Whiskey Ranch, and guided the company into Pernod Ricard’s international portfolio.
Sources:
Midland Reporter-Telegram, “Midland Native Opens First Whiskey Distillery in North Texas,” Audrie Palmer, January 17, 2013, mrt.com
Edible Dallas & Fort Worth, “Liquid Assets: Local Whiskey Worth the Wait,” Winter 2012–2013, edibledfw.com
PR Newswire, “Award-Winning T-X Blended Whiskey Expands into Louisiana,” October 8, 2013, prnewswire.com
Dallas Innovates, “One-of-a-Kind Distillery Coming Soon to Fort Worth,” October 5, 2017, dallasinnovates.com
D Magazine, “Firestone & Robertson Distilling Opens a Whiskey Ranch on a Historic Golf Course,” February 1, 2018, dmagazine.com
VinePair, “Two Texans Are Distilling Excellent Whiskey on an Enormous Golf Course,” January 25, 2019, vinepair.com
Pernod Ricard official website, “Pernod Ricard Announces Acquisition of Firestone & Robertson Distilling Co..”, August 5, 2019, pernod-ricard.com
Contributed by Tracy McLemore, Fairview, Tennessee
