Garrison Brothers is advising drinkers to saddle up their horses, but -- in the spirit of small batch whiskey -- folks might want to fire up their engines to get first crack at the Hye (that's west of Austin) distillery's flagship bourbon.
Owner Dan Garrison yesterday announced 1,800 bottles of Garrison Brothers' Texas Straight Bourbon Whiskey will go on sale in Blanco and Gillespie Counties on Wednesday. A limited pre-release in March sold out in two days.
"I bet you $1,000 it will all be gone by Thursday," Garrison says.
The bourbon was barreled in 2008, three years after the distillery was built, and bottled this morning. Garrison described the spirit as tasting of "caramel, butterscotch, honey and a little bit of chocolate."
"It gets better every time I taste it," he says.
Garrison is especially pleased with the bourbon's finish, which he compares to having brown sugar butter poured down one's gullet.
Garrison Brothers is the first legal whiskey distillery in Texas, and -- according to Garrison's research -- is only the second distiller outside of Kentucky or Tennessee to successfully produce bourbon.
Since Texas Straight Bourbon can't be shipped, Garrison's advising interested drinkers to put their names on liquor store waiting lists now and show up next week to claim their bottles. The distillery is exploring widened distribution and plans to add a major market in the spring.
"I can't say which, but, starting in the spring, our release will get much bigger," Garrison promised.
