Texas Country Reporter #1935— Take A Sip On The Wild Side - 11:57 - 20:28  J. B. Sauceda September 28, 2024  

Lone Star Legends — A Foraging Trip Reveals How It Takes a Village to Make West Texas Gin Words by Ruvani de SilvaIllustrations by Colette Holston March 19, 2024 “It’s a whole hidden world,” my husband says as we ricochet along the increasingly steep and rocky dirt...

You’re not going to find a more local, more handcrafted gin anywhere, not with UT biology professor and private distiller Molly Cummings out there foraging various species of West Texas junipers herself. And you’re unlikely to find a more palate-pleasing spirit than her WildJune, conjured from red juniper berries and 10 other botanicals, although Cummings’ London dry-style gin called WildBark (which uses alligator juniper) also has its tippling champions.

Molly Cummings is a UT professor by day, and a gin distiller by night. She says she hasn’t had cedar fever in years, and her gin may be the reason.

AUSTIN, Texas – Allergy season is in full swing in Central Texas, and for many of us, cedar fever can be a nightmare. Could a martini or two help relieve it? A University of Texas biology professor—who happens to moonlight as a gin distiller—thinks there might be a connection.

When Molly Cummings first moved to Austin from Wisconsin, her cedar fever was pretty bad.

“I would be horribly congested, it would drip back into my throat, it would be like that for a couple weeks,” said Cummings.

Years later the UT professor followed her siblings into the distilling business, but was especially intrigued by gin—for which juniper is a key ingredient.