Distillery: Garrison Brothers
Proof: 94
Age: NAS
Mashbill: 74% white Texas corn, 15% red wheat, and 11% Canadian Malted barley
BACKGROUND: Garrison Brothers Single Barrel is a Texas straight bourbon whiskey that comes in at 94 proof, is a minimum of four years old, and is distilled in Hye, Texas. Garrison Brothers was launched in 2006 and was the first distillery to be granted a stiller's permit for bourbon outside of Kentucky and Tennessee which makes it the oldest legal bourbon distillery in Texas. Their whiskey portfolio includes a Small Batch, Single Barrel, Cowboy (barrel proof), Honey Dew (honey infused), Estacado (port finish) and Laguna Madre (limousine oak), Balmorhea (double oaked), and new Rye whiskey.
NOSE: Very deep and rich caramel, toasted oak, some dried fruit (cherry), and bitter dark chocolate. (22/25)
PALATE: There are some very prominent woody oak flavors, some light caramel, and leather notes. The sweeter flavors from the nose are hard to get here as the wood notes are over powering. The mouthfeel has a medium thickness. (31/40)
FINISH: Some of the sweetness arises in the finish as we got some notes of maple, honey, and oak on the finish. It is a pretty fast finish. (21/25)
VALUE: Garrison Brother's Single Barrel Bourbon has a premium price tag of $95 which is quite high. It is a very smooth sipping whiskey that has some sweeter notes. I would say this bottle should be $60. (6/10)
Overall: 80/100
FINAL THOUGHTS: This is a tasty whiskey that is easy to drink and enjoyable. It has a steep price tag but some of these barrels are delicious. Their single barrel barrel strength is even more expensive but is very very good. Garrison Brother's continually makes delicious whiskey. We hope to be able to do a private barrel selection for y'all to try out in the future. Keep in mind this is a single barrel and each barrel varies in flavor. This sample was graciously given to us at no cost by the company. We thank them for allowing us to review this with no reservations.
Similar & Slightly Better Whiskey: Weller Single Barrel
Similar & Equal Whiskey: Maker's Mark 46
Similar & Slightly Worse Whiskey: Lone Elm Single Barrel
Tell us what you think and give us some feedback!
Scoring Legend:
96-100: The perfect dram, juice of the gods
90-95: Near perfect, truly incredible whiskey
85-89: Amazing whiskey, will always try to keep a backup bottle of this
80-84: Very good, some minor flaws here or there
75-79: Good, quite enjoyable to drink, Will try and keep a bottle on the shelf
70-74: Solid, wouldn’t go out of my way to get this
60-69: Decent, would offer this up to non whiskey drinkers
50-59: Not my cup of tea
Below 50: Give away