Our Texas Whiskey Story

Climbing down the corporate ladder

Troy & Michelle Kooper

After years of making whiskey together as a hobby, husband and wife team Troy and Michelle Kooper let it all ride, turned their backs on corporate life in Austin, moved to the country, and pursued their whiskey-making dreams by starting the Kooper Family Whiskey Company.

100% family-owned and operated, Kooper Family's blending house was founded in 2012 with a love for crafting exceptional whiskeys through patient aging and careful blending. Eight years later, Kooper Family whiskeys are found across Texas, and their Blending House hosts thousands of visitors yearly.

Troy Kooper

Master Blender

As an advertising Creative Director, Troy earned an elite pedigree in some of the industry's most prestigious advertising agencies. As a hobby, Troy spent countless hours brewing, experimenting, and doing extensive research into the craft of whiskey making. As the Master Blender, he currently focuses on whiskey maturation, blending, design, and marketing duties.

Michelle Kooper

President

Michelle, a Gates Millennium Scholar, graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, and holds a Master's Degree from Columbia University in New York. As the President of Kooper Family Whiskey, Michelle oversees the day-to-day operations and staff, serving as the charming heartbeat of hospitality at our Tasting Room and Blending House in Ledbetter, Texas.

Our History

How it's done vs. how we did it

In 2015 we sourced our first 175 gallons of unaged whiskey right off the still from Koval Distillery in Chicago. We barreled it up, aged it in the hot Texas climate, and later released it as Kooper Family 100% Rye Whiskey.

Later we took that same distillate and blended it with another whiskey we began sourcing from Tennessee. We aged these two separately in different style barrels and married the result in a used Bourbon barrel for a more balanced, complex whiskey. We released this as Kooper Family Rye, A Blend of Straight Rye Whiskies.

That first purchase of unaged distillate and first successful attempt at whiskey blending started what has become a long journey of establishing the first traditional whiskey blending house in Texas. Distillates from Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, and Illinois are our primary substrate in a craft that takes dedication and extreme patience. One that has become a newly formed family tradition being passed down to the next generation of Koopers.

On the Label

The Kooper Family Rye label depicts Troy's grandfather, Howard, as a young man when he won the U.S. Armed Forces Heavyweight Boxing Championship in 1944. At just 22 years old, already a husband, father, and soldier, he proved to himself what grit, determination, and a willingness to fight for greatness could achieve. Those values he passed down are the defining principles that guide our family and our passionate dedication to our craft.

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Ledbetter, Texas. DSP-TX-20041