Sage Roots x Garden & Gun x Penelope Bourbon: A Texas Cocktail Experience to Remember
When creativity, craftsmanship, and Southern culture come together, it creates a moment worth celebrating. Our recent collaboration with Garden & Gun and Penelope Bourbon in Round Top, Texas was one of those rare evenings where everything aligned beautifully—flavor, atmosphere, community, and storytelling. Hosted at the iconic Red Antler, this event brought together bourbon enthusiasts, cocktail lovers, and Round Top visitors for an unforgettable night curated by the Sage Roots Cocktail Company team.
We were honored to serve as the exclusive cocktail bar, responsible for designing a signature cocktail menu centered entirely around Penelope Bourbon’s award-winning spirits. With Penelope’s brand-new Bungalow Bar as our home base for the evening, we embraced the opportunity to highlight fresh Texas ingredients and farm-to-glass craftsmanship.
A Perfect Bourbon Pairing: Penelope Architect & Our Smashed Apple Ginger Cocktail
One of the stars of the night was our seasonal Smashed Apple & Ginger cocktail paired with Penelope Architect Bourbon. Architect is a remarkable expression—complex, layered, and finished with French oak staves that give it rich vanilla and toasted spice notes. We paired it with crisp green apples, fresh ginger, and pressed lime, creating a refreshing, aromatic cocktail that balanced orchard brightness with warm bourbon depth. Guests loved the way the flavors unfolded, and this drink quickly became one of the favorites of the night.
Penelope Wheated Bourbon Meets Pineapple & Black Pepper
For our second featured cocktail, we showcased Penelope Wheated Bourbon, known for its soft, smooth, and naturally sweet profile. To complement its delicate character, we built a cocktail featuring smashed pineapple and our handcrafted black pepper–brown sugar syrup. The pineapple added tropical freshness, the brown sugar offered richness, and the subtle black pepper brought an elegant and unexpected complexity. This cocktail was a crowd favorite and perfectly demonstrated how fresh ingredients can bring bourbon cocktails to life.
Why We Love Working With Penelope Bourbon
Penelope Bourbon continues to be one of our favorite spirits to work with—not only because of its versatility and beautiful flavor profiles, but also because the brand itself embodies craftsmanship, hospitality, and innovation. They create bourbon meant to be shared, celebrated, and enjoyed in new ways, which aligns perfectly with our mission as a farm-to-glass cocktail company in Texas.
A Partnership Built on Creativity & Craft
Collaborating again with Garden & Gun, a publication known for elevating Southern culture, food, art, and craftsmanship, is always an honor. Their events highlight the very best of the South, and bringing Sage Roots Cocktails into that experience feels both natural and inspiring.
Serving cocktails from Penelope’s stunning Bungalow Bar at the Red Antler created an atmosphere full of energy, elegance, and true Texas charm. We are incredibly grateful for the chance to be part of this “dream team” once again and can’t wait for our next collaboration here in Texas.