Salvation Spirits sits on Highway 290 between Austin and Fredericksburg, in what used to be an old dance hall from the 1940s. Founders Tim Hargus and Zac Saucier opened the distillery in 2019, bringing together Hargus’s background in finance and Saucier’s experience in restaurant management. They’d been homebrewing and distilling as a hobby for years before deciding to turn their passion into a full-scale operation. The 6,000-square-foot space houses their custom copper still from Vendome Copper & Brass Works, along with a tasting room that keeps the rustic charm of the original dance hall with exposed beams and concrete floors. They focus on bourbon, rye whiskey, and vodka, with plans to expand into rum and gin. The operation is small but serious—they’re producing about 200 barrels per year and aging everything on-site in 53-gallon barrels. What started as weekend experimentation has become a legitimate player in the Texas Hill Country spirits scene, and they’re already gaining recognition for their wheated bourbon recipe.