Many people are surprised to learn that Texas has a wine industry, but it’s true, and Llano Estacado has been proving the worth of West Texas terroir since 1976.Īccording to the distillery, in 2015, Llano Estacado called up Garrison Brothers and asked if they’d be interested in finishing whiskey in some of their used port barrels.

The Estacado name comes from the Llano Estacado Winery, a Texas winery near Lubbock. This review focuses on one of those, Garrison Brothers Estacado, which is only available from the distillery’s tasting room. The company periodically releases experimental bourbons, single barrels, and the like, including three new variants we announced earlier this year. Their flagship, Cowboy Bourbon, was named “American Micro Whiskey of the Year” by Jim Murray back in 2014, and USA Today readers voted them the “#1 Best Craft Whiskey Distillery in America” this year.īut just because they’re focused doesn’t mean the folks at Garrison Brothers don’t like to experiment every once in a while. That admirable focus has earned them a lot of kudos. There’s no Garrison Brothers vodka, no Garrison Brothers gin, no Garrison Brothers kiwi liqueur, just corn, rye, barley, oak, and time, in those well-known, suitable proportions. It is not to be taken too lightly, though, since HoneyDew is also an award-winning bourbon, receiving the Gold North American Bourbon and Whiskey Competition Prize in 2020.Garrison Brothers Distillery in Hye, Texas, makes exactly one kind of whiskey: Texas bourbon. It would be no wonder, since in the words of Dan Garrison, it is a magical nectar, light, delicate, gentle and floral – perfect for getting you through an intense summer.

His prediction is most men will buy it for their wives or girlfriends but end up drinking it themselves. At 3,700 bottles, this makes it a very limited edition. Bottled at 80 proof, this honey-infused Texas bourbon is something that has never been done before and Todd says it might be their only release. Once fully immersed, they were moved inside a stainless-steel tank where the bourbon was allowed to slowly soak up the whole range of honey flavors for 7 months. Donnis Todd, their Master Distiller, took used bourbon barrels, cut them into small, wooden cubes and immersed them in honey. The 3rd experimental in a long line, HoneyDew is also made with one of their award-winning bourbons, the Small Batch Bourbon Whiskey, which is then infused with Burleson's Texas Wildflower Honey. When they released their iconic Cowboy Bourbon, people waited in lines outside the distillery just to be able to get a bottle. In 2020 alone, the list of accolades is long: Silver and Gold at San Francisco World Spirits Competition as well as Double Gold and the Innovation Award at Spirits International Prestige Awards, among others. The barrels used today are custom made with staves thick enough to bear the heat and at Garrison Bros, they are very proud of their products. The barrels of their first batch gave in under the infamous Texas heat, but the spirit at Garrison Brothers was stronger and refused to yield. 'We didn't want to make just any bourbon - we wanted to make the best bourbon ever made.'Īdmittedly, it wasn't smooth sailing from the very beginning. 'Like everything in the Lone Star State, our dreams were big from the start,' says Dan Garrison, the distillery's owner. In 2006, it was granted the first distiller's permit for bourbon outside of Kentucky and Tennessee, making it the oldest legal whiskey distillery in Texas.

Situated on a rolling ranch in Texas Hill Country amidst wide open prairies under the scorching Texas sun, Garrison Brothers Distillery was founded in 2005.

Garrison brothers whiskey