Garrison Brothers is known for its bold Texas bourbon, releasing various expressions with outsized flavors that are the result of the distillery’s use of various barrel sizes for maturation and the particular climate in which the whiskey matures. On Saturday, March 1, Garrison Brothers will release 1,000 bottles of a new single-barrel version of one of its most popular whiskeys—Balmorhea—but you’ll have to head to the distillery outside of Austin to get a bottle.
Garrison Brothers is known as being the first legal distillery in Texas to make bourbon when it opened in 2010. Today, the distillery has several expressions available, including its Small Batch Bourbon, the port cask-finished Guadalupe, its intensely high-proof (and sometimes hazmat level) Cowboy Bourbon, and Balmorhea. This bourbon is a double-barreled whiskey, which means it’s initially aged in new charred oak barrels for about four years, then placed in a new set of barrels for an additional year—think other double-oaked bourbons from brands like Woodford Reserve, Peerless, and Hirsch. This new limited-edition release, however, is a single-barrel expression that master distiller Donnis Todd selected from just 11 barrels, and it’s bottled at cask strength so the proof will vary depending on the cask it came from.
The reason for this release is to raise money for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation, an organization dedicated to protect the land and wildlife of the state. “For the second year in a row, Garrison Brothers has chosen TPWF as a beneficiary of its Texas Independence Day celebration proceeds, and we greatly appreciate their generous support of our mission through the years,” said TPWF executive director Anne Brown in a statement. “It’s fitting that a whiskey named after Texas’ iconic oasis in the desert will help conserve the wild things and wild places of Texas.”
But here’s the thing—Garrison Brothers fans will have to head to the distillery in Hye, Texas on March 1 (the day before Texas Independence Day) to get a bottle, and there are just 1,000 being released. While original Balmorhea retails for $180, this limited-edition release will be listed for $230 with $50 of each sale going to the TPWF. There will also be line dancing, live music, and hay-less hay rides to keep the party going. In the meantime, or if you can’t make it out to Texas that day, you can find the rest of the Garrison Brothers lineup, including the core Balmorhea expression, available to purchase from ReserveBar.
