Garrison Brothers Texas Straight Bourbon

Rating: 14/23 N: Wood. Sawdust, actually. It's kind of sweet though with corn meeting brown sugar. There's something faintly tart and bitter and I get just a whiff of the alcohol. It's a decent nose, but it seems a bit young and uncomplex. P: Sawdust and light brown sugar are backed by alcohol and faint corn. There's a fair amount of char from the barrel too and I get the faintest bit of maybe tangerine or something, but it's faint. There's a bit of some sort of spice too, but I'm having trouble placing it. The spice is a little harsh, but not too bad. There isn't a ton of complexity here, but it's a tasty product with a unique flavor. F: The alcohol, corn, char, and sawdust linger the most. The brown sugar fades surprisingly quickly. As the finish progresses, it comes down to sawdust and char mostly. - Conclusion - This somehow strikes me as a bit more youthful than my single barrel cask strength bottling. It's kind of like that with a bit of Buffalo Trace mixed in. It generally strikes me as a bit better than Buffalo Trace (though not enough to justify the price difference). I think I underrated my single barrel cask strength bottle of Garrison Brothers at a 14 - It's probably more like a 16. With this being better than Buffalo Trace (a 12) and worse than the Garrison Brothers Single Barrel, I'm looking at a 13 to 15 here. Considering the price, it's hard to justify buying this with such a meager rating, but it is a fun expression that's different from your usual sour mash bourbon. I think I'm going with a 14. There are more complex and mature bourbons that I've scored a 14, but this is tasty and sippable in a way that I think earns the 14. It's not an amazing bourbon, but I find it so easy to come back to that there must be something pretty good about it. It's about on par with Old Tub, Wild Turkey 101, and Early Times Bottled In Bond. The only reason that isn't a big compliment to this is that it costs more than twice what any of those do.

2018 edition 47%. Nose - Clay, dirt, crayons, and I get some sweetness in the back. But yeah imagine a box or crayons where some mud and dirt and clay were somehow added and then left there for about a year. Open that up and mix in at the very end a hint if alcohol and a hint of I dunno maybe caramel. Taste - The opening is clay then it shifts sweet giving off some traditional bourbon notes. Now we go back into waxy crayons, clay puddy, and then back to sweet with some bourbon notes. Maybe some flowers? not in a good way just kinda earthy and floral flower notes. I mostly suffered through this stuff again to provide a PSA. Garrison Brother's has gotten a lot of love and a lot of hate. I can't tell if batch variation is a thing or if some people like this stuff. I've emailed the distillery and they've assured me clay puddy isn't a note I should taste or smell, but I've talked to numerous people who have gotten the same notes which makes me think if this is off, it's a COMMON off note. I would like to try a different batch to see if this if this is just me, but either way unless you enjoy drinking dirt, this pretty much sucks. The nose is far worse than the taste where there's actually some bourbon quality notes. Still it tastes awful. Overall you can't mix this to make it better. You can only drain pour it or share it with others to stop them buying one.

My first Garrison Brothers was very good. Actually a bourbon that i will remember for a long time because of a good flavor and aroma profile. Their website says that it is Texas first legal bourbon whiskey. Bottled at 47%abv, a nice copper color. On the nose, super sweet and jammy. Strawberry jam, Cramberries, caramel, syrup, Marmalade, Maraschino Cherries, Strawberries and Coffee. Great stuff. On the palate it is very acid. Prunes and fruit acidity. A second sip gave me red fruits, jam and coffee beams. Aftertaste had a nice spiciness. Sugar syrup, chilli, wasabi, very dry and astringent. Overall, i really liked this dram. I believe that the sweet, acid and spicy profile is quite a nice combination. My score for it is an 85 over 100, but it surely feels like more.

Nose: Very dickel like nose. nectarines, light wintergreen and light honey vanilla sweetness. light cinnamon and brown sugar. Dark red cherries and milk chocolate do show up eventually with a hint of tobacco. Taste: strong oak that goes into a very herbal dry grass / hay. It then transforms into hot cinnamon pancakes with maple syrup. The finish is very fruity and sweet with a vanilla honey aftertaste. Lemongrass, peaches, red apples and bitter plums as well. Banana sneaks in eventually as well. Water adds heavy corn and pie crust notes to the nose. It makes the taste overpowered with oak but also enhances the sweetness. Not your average bourbon for sure. Lots of different things going on that may be unattractive / divisive for some people.

I want to love this bourbon, I really do. It has strong flavors and complexity you wouldn't expect from 3 years in the barrel, so the whole "Texas climate," isn't a gimmick. It's a cool bottle, and delivers on the sweetness of a wheated whiskey. They only thing I don't love is the price. At $60, I could see this as a serious contender for people's wallets. At $40 it would practically fly off the shelves. But at $80 it's really hard to justify over plenty of other great bourbons for half the price. The price is really what drops the rating for me, because otherwise I'd be ranking it a 4.5 easily. But who knows, at the rate of inflation and the whiskey market, $80 might just become the new $40 and we'll be begging to buy this.

Too sweet for me unfortunately. Honey, brown sugar, vanilla. Tastes like JD Tennessee Honey. I use the rating scale below. Distiller uses a scale of 5 and I use a scale of 10, but I’m sure you’re not too drunk to do the math! 1. Disgusting - So bad I poured it out. 2. Poor - I wouldn't consume by choice. 3. Bad - Multiple flaws. 4. Below average - Not bad, but many things I'd rather have. 5. Good - Just average. 6. Very Good - Better than average. 7. Great - Well above average. 8. Excellent - In a league of its own. 9. Incredible - An all-time favorite. 10. Perfect