HAVE MERCY

Photo by Peter J. Cooper

I first met Billy Gibbons at my house in Palm Springs when we bonded over a mutual love for Molina’s Jose’s Dip. My friend and neighbor Bob Merlis told Billy I was heating up a quart in my kitchen and they were at my house before it was hot. Anyone from Houston who loves queso knows Molina’s has the best, so I wasn’t entirely surprised Billy’s reaction led him to my kitchen so quickly. For the record, there’s simply no better way to connect with a rock star than doing it with Jose’s Dip drizzling off a tortilla chip. From there, our conversation turned to comparing notes on the best tamales in the Coachella Valley, the best tacos and burritos in Los Angeles, and why we should bring Houston Tex-Mex to the west coast. When you’re from Houston, particularly in Billy’s case, you’re constantly searching for Mexican food that brings you closer to home – and for Billy, closer to home was anything that remotely compared to Leo’s Mexican Restaurant. Leo’s closed its Shepherd Drive location years ago but its enchilada plate has been immortalized on the inside of ZZ Top’s groundbreaking Tres Hombres album. Over the next couple of years, I’d meet up with Billy and friends at gallery openings, a Palm Springs Walk of Fame dedication to our friend Bob, trips to Boot Star on Sunset, and memorable nights out at the Whiskey Bar at the Sunset Marquis. At the Whiskey, we enjoyed ice cold Corona beer while we’d throw dice, which Billy always carried in his pocket. After I moved to Houston, my wife and I spent time with him backstage at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo before a ZZ Top show in front of 75,000 fans – and in our usual way, we talked about the current state of Tex-Mex in our great city (by the way, our current state is good but not great), which always leads to a brief mourning of the closing of Leo’s restaurant and how desperately this institution needs to be revived.

 From my personal experience, I can attest to just how cool Billy truly is – and how deep his love of Texas goes. So it’s no wonder to me that Billy and his bandmates joined forces with Balcones to produce a unique and highly coveted whiskey. Tres Hombres is named after ZZ Top’s 1973 record and it represents the special style in which the whiskey is made using roasted blue corn, malted barley and rye. Three distinct whiskey flavors blended into a slightly sweet, almost nutty, sophisticated whiskey that’s as cool as the members of the band. And based on the scarcity of Tres Hombres (you can’t find it available anywhere), I’d say that little ol’ distillery in Waco nailed it. PJC