Johnny Pickles Distillery

Modern creative grain to glass Texas Whiskey double distilled from local corn. Family friendly space, craft cocktails, tours & tastings.

“Forman’s Whiskey” would be such a boring name. Most of what we thought of was that bad. When Johnny Pickles Distillery first came up, one of us thought it was ridiculous. However, it’s not exactly a name you forget. Here’s the story:

Years ago, we were hanging out one night and decided it would be a great idea to make up mob names for our family. (This is what you get when you drink whiskey after listening to comedy podcasts.) Well… They were all terrible, except for one.

Johnny Pickles became our nickname for Jen’s stepdad, John Kelly. John is a great guy: humble, family-focused, a great listener, generous with his time. He also has done a lot, tells great stories, and enjoys a good whiskey. He’s exactly what we want to emulate as a business.

He also doesn’t naturally seek out attention… So we put his name on a building 🤣

These days, John and Anise are retired and live in the area. He helps us with mashes and projects like building the stage and the giant checkerboard. If you come on by at the right moment, you might even get to meet him.