Texas’ Oldest Legal Bourbon Distillery Drops 1st Bottled-In-Bond Whiskey

(Photo: Garrison Brothers)

Garrison Brothers Distillery announced on Tuesday that it will release its first Bottled-in-Bond bourbon on Feb. 28, marking a new entry in the Texas-based producer’s portfolio and a notable milestone for the brand.

The 6-year-old bourbon is scheduled for a limited early release of 2,000 bottles on Feb. 28 at the distillery in Hye, Texas, timed with Texas Independence Day. The bottles will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis during a ticketed event at the distillery. Wider availability is expected by the end of March through e-commerce and select retailers, bars and restaurants.

The release brings Garrison Brothers into the Bottled in Bond category, a federally defined designation created under the Bottled-in-Bond Act of 1897. To qualify, a bourbon must be produced during a single distilling season by one distiller at one distillery, aged at least four years in a federally bonded warehouse and bottled at 100 proof.

Distilled in fall 2019 from Texas-grown grains, the first batch of the new bourbon was aged for six years in the Texas Hill Country and proofed with local rainwater. Bottled at the 100 proof required by Bottled-in-Bond regulations, it becomes the 10th bourbon release in the company’s lineup.

Garrison Brothers founder Dan Garrison framed the release as a reflection of the distillery’s long-standing production methods rather than a shift in direction.

“From day one, Garrison Brothers has cooked our own mash, fermented our own distillers beer, pot-distilled, and aged our bourbon right here in Hye, Texas. There’s no BS here. For six summers, this whiskey moved in and out of the wood, tightening its flavor and deepening its color,” Garrison said in a news release “We proofed it down to 100 and put our name on it. This release marks a milestone for Texas distilling, [Master Distiller] Donnis Todd and our entire team.”

The distillery describes the whiskey as oak-forward, with smoke, tobacco and leather on the nose, followed by toasted oak, wood sugars and darker confectionery notes on the palate.

Todd emphasized the role of Texas climate in the aging process rather than the Bottled in Bond designation itself:

“One run, one place, one team. Then we let Texas do what Texas does. Hot days. Cool nights. Oak inhaling and exhaling until the whiskey got bold, and layered, and honest. We were not chasing ‘bottled-in-bond.’ We were chasing the best bottled-in-bond bourbon ever made.”

The suggested retail price is $99.99. Garrison Brothers bourbon is currently distributed nationwide and in several international markets.

Founded in 2006, Garrison Brothers was the first legal whiskey distillery in Texas following the end of Prohibition. The distillery has focused exclusively on bourbon production since its launch and has positioned its releases around Texas-grown ingredients and regional aging conditions.