Why Treaty Oak?

We get asked often how we came up with the name "Treaty Oak" and what it means.  Here's the scoop on the famous Treaty Oak, why we chose it, and why we love it.

We ran through a lot of ideas when attempting to establish a name for our first product, Treaty Oak Rum (and now the namesake of our distillery).  Nothing really stood out until the story of the Treaty Oak popped up during conversation.  

The Treaty Oak was part of the original council oaks, revered by local Comanche and Tonkawa tribes.  Stephen F. Austin signed a border treaty with Native Americans under its broad branches.  Back in 1989, the tree was poisoned with velpar.  After tedious efforts, the tree survived against slim odds, even though more than 60% of it died.  It is large and healthy today, although only half of its original size back in 1989.  

The Treaty Oak showed strength and bravery in overcoming this incident.  When combined with its deep Texas history roots, we found it to be the perfect basis for our company.  The historic tree has lent its name to our distillery and our rum.

Daniel R. Barnes
Owner & Distiller
Treaty Oak Distilling Co.