Fort Worth Distillery Crafting'One-of-a-Kind' Vodka

There’s a new way to consume Texas’ favorite New Year’s luck charm. Or, shall we say drink it.

Fort Worth-based BlackEyed Distilling Co. recently debuted its new vodka — made from good ole Texas black-eyed peas.

According to the distillery, it’s the first vodka to be hand-crafted from the pale colored bean with the distinctive black eye.

Master distiller Trey Nickels came up with the idea for BLK EYE Vodka after years of drought brought poor crop yields to his family’s black-eyed pea farm in Muleshoe, Texas.

THE DISTILLERY COMMISSIONED LOCAL ARTISTS FOR LABELS

Tuckered out from life as a farmer, Nickels moved to Fort Worth in 2014 to make his dreams of brewing black-eyed pea vodka a reality. His initial distilling efforts fizzled last April, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. But, with a new name and investors Nickels is entering a second act with his “one-of-a-kind” spirit.

“We grew up with rows and rows of black-eyed peas on the farm. We’d pick ’em, shell ’em, and eat ’em,” Todd Gregory, the distillery’s co-CEO and chief operating officer, told the Star-Telegram. “Now, years later, I’m drinking them.”

The vodka’s Texas roots run deep. Black-eyed peas are sourced from West Texas and Nickels commissioned local artists to design the labels. The first bottle features work from Fort Worth landscape artist Pat Gabriel.

The distillery is in a historic firehouse at 503 Bryan Ave. in Fort Worth.

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