A Whisky Lover's Travel Guide to Houston

Houston has become synonymous with international cuisine, starting with a great lineup of Lone Star State standards: steakhouses, Tex-Mex, and barbecue. For whisky fans, there’s an array of excellent whisky-focused bars, more than most cities this size, and at surprisingly reasonable prices.

Houston is sprawling, and commuter-hour traffic can be challenging, but on weekends it’s very easy to get around; rideshares are quite reasonable and probably your best bet. The city has an international airport near downtown and reliable weather year-round, though it gets very hot in the summer, making spring and fall ideal for a visit.

Day One

It’s never disappointing to stay at a Four Seasons, but Four Seasons Houston is extra special. For starters, it has an unbeatable downtown location, across the street from the Toyota Center, where the NBA Rockets play, and home to a continuous lineup of big-name concerts. Also nearby is Daikin Park, home of the MLB Astros, making it convenient to add a baseball game to your itinerary from spring through fall. Within a block of the hotel is Reserve 101, the city’s biggest whisky bar. But the fun starts before you even leave the hotel, which is home to its own standout whiskey venue, Bayou & Bottle, as well as Angels’ Share, where special tastings and classes are held, and Bandista, a speakeasy- style “cocktail laboratory” well hidden behind a secret door.

The pervasive theme even extends to the spa, where your treatment begins with the question, “Would you like your bourbon neat or over a rock?” The signature is the Southern Scrub & Sip, which includes a Texas-made body scrub that’s infused with bourbon, and concludes with a glass of Bayou & Bottle’s exclusive Garrison Brothers Single Barrel Cask Strength bourbon (50 minutes, $295).

Another hotel option is the Omni, which also has a whisky spot called La Reserve, A Fine Whiskey Lounge, where the menu offers over 100 whiskies. But its strength is the creative cocktails, such as the Hye Noon, with Garrison HoneyDew bourbon, amaretto, fresh lemon juice, honey bitters, and cinnamon simple syrup ($16). Every Tuesday and Saturday it offers a guided Whiskey Flight Tasting Experience from 3-5 p.m., with a curated flight of four pours.

Once you’ve dropped your bags, grab lunch at Truth BBQ in the Heights neighborhood, which was named a local Bib Gourmand in the latest Michelin guide. No other barbecue joints rival Truth when it comes to pairing exceptional barbecue with a big whisky list and first-rate cocktails, all in a casual roadhouse setting. It’s extremely popular, so don’t be shocked by the line out the door; it moves quickly. The line leads you to the counter, where in typical Texas fashion you order meats butcher shop-style by the pound and create your own platters, with a dizzying array of proteins: brisket, chicken, ribs, burnt ends, chopped whole hog, house-made sausage, and smoked turkey. But perhaps even better than the meats are the delicious sides you won’t find elsewhere, like potato salad made with crushed tater tots, cheese, onions (both fresh and crispy), and green chiles, an ethereal pudding-like combination of creamed corn and cornbread, and honey-sriracha Brussels sprouts. Its several dozen whiskies are offered in 1.5 and 2-oz. pours, with options like Weller 12 year old ($22/28) and Eagle Rare 10 ($16/20), plus tequila and mezcal.

Also in the Heights is William Price Distilling, which sits next to two popular craft breweries and a winery. They produce vodka, gin, and coffee liqueur and source their rye whiskey from Indiana, which they age in-house. You can’t see whiskey being made, but samples are available, along with an interesting cocktail list.

On Wednesday through Saturday evenings, you can book a chocolate and spirit tasting session at artisan Case Chocolates, not far from the Four Seasons. Case specializes in crafting bite-sized chocolates that are liquid-filled, usually with spirits like rum and whiskey. For these special tastings, they rotate cocktails to pair with the chocolates. You get four ($54) or five ($74) pours of mini-cocktails and spirits, each paired with its sibling chocolate in an intimate bar behind the retail store.

For dinner, head to Bayou & Bottle, which has great Southern-influenced upscale bar food, like a wagyu burger, boar sausage, Gulf shrimp, lobster tacos, birria bao buns, fish and chips, and the Garrison Brothers whiskey brisket sandwich. Its whiskies span from basics like Russell’s Reserve rye or Widow Jane 10 year old for $18/1.5 oz. to as precious as OFC 2006 ($400) and Weller Millennium ($800). There are over 100 options on the main list and another 130 on the allocated list, a rare instance in which it is the longer of the two. But there are some reasonable choices, like Little Book Chapter 8 “Path Not Taken,” for $37. There are half a dozen flights and a lengthy cocktail list that includes four signature Old Fashioneds, the bestseller being the Dr Pepper, with Old Overholt rye, Dr Pepper syrup, Averna amaro, calvados, cherry vanilla bitters, and angostura bitters ($18).

For a nightcap, you cannot miss Reserve 101, around the corner from Four Seasons, with a staggering list of about 1,000 whiskies (no food is served). It currently offers 14 private barrels from 16 countries.

You can try its priciest offering, the more than a century-old 1916 OFC George T. Stagg at $2,000/oz. There’s Dalmore 1969 42 year old single cask ($1,700), Eagle Rare 25 (one of 200 bottles produced, $1,000), and Nikka Nine Decades 90th anniversary ($550). Even among the vintage choices, some affordable options are available, like a 1965 Ancient Age 6 year old at $60 and a 1970 I.W. Harper 5 year old at $36. Don’t miss its Single Barrel Sundays, when pours of every single barrel on the list are $6/oz.

Day Two

Conveniently located between downtown and the Heights, The Breakfast Klub opens at 7 a.m. and is a longtime Houston favorite focused on Southern specialties to start the day. Think chicken and waffles, catfish and grits, “biskits” and gravy, and “pankakes” so beloved that boxes of the mix are available to purchase so patrons can re-create them at home.

NASA is the city’s main visitor attraction. The best way to make it extra special is to book one of the Early Access Tours ($75), which gets you in an hour before general admission ($45) and adds a special guided tour. Also, book one or both of the marquee add-on experiences: tram tours to the Astronaut Training Center and Mission Control ($90 including early access), where Neil Armstrong checked in with the famous words “Houston, the Eagle has landed.” Space Center Houston is exceptional and worth 3-4 hours, so getting the early jump is a good way to visit before it gets too crowded and still make it back into the city for lunch.

Head to Eight Row Flint in the vibrant Montrose neighborhood for lunch. One of Houston’s most famous signatures is its “ice houses,” bars that were often fashioned from old gas stations and garages, a style that predated air conditioning when the big garage doors would be rolled up to create a breeze. It’s a communal-style bar, and many others still exist. While beer is the focus, some have morphed into more varied spots. Eight Row Flint is the most whiskey-centered—about 150 labels, 12 private barrels, and 11 flights— and has killer Tex-Mex cuisine, including excellent tacos, such as the quesabirria, stuffed with slow-braised seasoned beef, then pan-fried to make it crispy and served with a cup of beef consommé. But the real highlight here is the Infinity Blend, their homemade solera-style mix of all the private casks that have ever crossed the threshold.

A few blocks away is a Houston retail highlight, Republic Boot Co., an independent manufacturer of handmade custom and artsy cowboy boots. If fashion or quirkiness is your thing, do not miss it.

Speaking of quirky, Houston just got the latest outpost of Meow Wolf, an immersive arts collaborative that hosts experiential installations. Houston’s is Radio Tave, a radio station that has tapped into another dimension. You walk through, solve mysteries, take in the elaborate displays, and are generally fascinated for an eccentric hour or two (and there’s a hidden bar!). Meow Wolf consistently wows visitors, and with so few locations nationwide, it is worth popping in, especially mid-afternoon, and it is not far from Montrose.

The biggest distillery tour in town is Giant Texas Distillers, which claims to be the largest distillery west of the Mississippi, set in a former Uncle Ben’s rice plant. It was also the last consulting project of late industry legend Dave Pickerell. Aside from distilling its own whiskey, it is also a contract distiller. It’s a big facility and a solid tour ($10, or $20 with a tasting flight). There’s a huge tasting room and bar that doubles as a full-service restaurant and even serves weekly special steak dinners.

If you like funky, stop in at Drop of the Creator, a boutique woman-owned distillery with a tasting room. They just started distilling their American single malt, so it will be a few years before you can taste it, but they offer a sourced 2 year old Texas whiskey. It’s a fun stop, more bar than distillery, with pizza and frequent happy hours.

Permission Whiskey is another specialty spot worth visiting. The selection is extensive: 650-700 labels divided into regular, Rare, and Ultra-rare, the latter including things you are unlikely to see anyplace else, like a bottle of Woodford Reserve 150th Kentucky Derby edition ($3,000), and at the top-tier, a Glenlivet 80 year old at $24,000 (all 2 oz. pours with half-pours offered). More affordable specialties include a half-dozen private barrel picks, including Elijah Craig 10 year old ($26) and Woodinville 102 proof ($24).

Hidden in the back is James, a speakeasy that’s a membership club, but they take a few reservations nightly for visitors. Here, in addition to cocktails, they let you create your own flights and have only one pre-set choice, maybe the priciest you will ever see: Dalmore Cask Creation Series 26, 28, and 43 year olds (three .5 oz. for $1,750).

Permission is at the high end of the city’s whisky bars, but back downtown, within walking distance of Four Seasons, Houston Watch Company is the most accessible. It is an old-school saloon in a historic building that was once a watch shop in the headquarters of the Southern Pacific Railroad. It stocks about 350 whiskies, and the house private label Elijah Craig is $11/oz. Cocktails are made with homemade mixers and fresh juices. They always have two house barrel-aged cocktails, including a bourbon Manhattan with Buffalo Trace, and also specialize in Toki Highballs.

For dinner, head to Haywire, a “modern Texan” restaurant that couples all the highlights of a great steakhouse with an impressive whisky program. They have about 150 labels, including an especially deep Texas list and 45 Rarities, like Colonel E.H. Taylor Small Batch for $26/2 oz. Three private cask selections are available: Balcones single malt ($25), Old Forester ($40), and Jack Daniel’s single barrel rye ($19).

Do not leave Houston without visiting Bandista. Reservations (for 90-minute visits) are required and can be made through the bar’s website. Have a custom cocktail crafted or go straight for the whisky. Guests with deep pockets can sip a 1950 Macallan for $5,000/ oz., but the main event here is mixology. It’s a great way to end two beautiful days in Texas.