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Garrison Brothers, the first licensed whiskey distillery to open in Texas since Prohibition, just dropped a new bourbon that has the distinction of being one of the oldest expressions in its lineup. This year’s Laguna Madre is an eight-year-old bourbon that spent equal time in two different types of barrels, and is rolling out nationally this month.
Laguna Madre was first released in 2020, a full decade after Garrison Brothers released its first whiskey. That year, as there is no doubt you recall, marked the start of the coronavirus pandemic, and the launch of this expression helped to raise over $400,000 for the distillery’s Operation Crush Covid-19 initiative which was dedicated to supporting the hospitality community in the Austin area. This year’s release is supporting a different cause: Flatsworthy, an organization that master distiller Donnis Todd is involved in that raises money to protect the natural resources of Texas’s coastline.
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The annual release of Laguna Madre, one of the distillery’s rarest and most expensive bourbons, is a popular one with fans who line up at the distillery to buy a bottle. There are 3,000 bottles total this year, and 2,000 of those will be available nationwide. As stated before, the bourbon was aged for a total of eight years—it’s a blend of bourbon that spent four to six years in new charred oak barrels (15, 25, and 30 gallons), and was then put into new French Limousin casks for another four years. It was bottled at 101 proof, and the official tasting notes describe root beer, vanilla bean, hazelnut, saltwater taffy, and chocolate on the palate, with a creamy almond butter-like mouthfeel.
Some other news out of the distillery is that Hye Fashioned Takeover returns this September, which is also Bourbon Heritage Month. This event, which started last year, features various bars and restaurants around the country making cocktails using Garrison Brothers’ bourbon to raise money for Boot Campaign, a nonprofit focused on helping veterans. If you want to participate from home, you can purchase a home kit for $85 that includes a bottle of Garrison Brothers Small Batch Bourbon and Old Fashioned sugar cubes from the website. And if you’re looking to score a bottle of the new Laguna Madre bourbon (SRP $350), it’s available to preorder from ReserveBar now.
