BlackEyed Distilling, Fort Worth

Who knew you could make vodka out of black-eyed peas? Not many, because it wasn't until 2014—when BlackEyed Distilling began to create the concept—that anyone had apparently even tried it. And the minds behind BlackEyed kind of stumbled upon the discovery themselves. They were a family of farmers in the Panhandle of Texas, drought forced them to rethink what they could do with their crops of black-eye peas. Knowing their beans were full of starch that could be broken down into bite-sized sugars for yeast to feed on, they decided they'd try their hand at distilling.

And it's a good thing they did. Blending non-GMO black-eyed peas with non-GMO corn, it turns out, makes an incredibly smooth spirit. Sold as BLK EYE Vodka, the 80-proof spirit is distilled 22 times. And because it's Texan through and through—with ingredients sourced entirely from the state and the limited-edition bottles bearing the work of nearby Texan artists—it makes for a kind of local, grain-to-glass experience for drinkers seeking something new.