skillerified
Garrison Brothers Small Batch Bourbon Whiskey
Bourbon — Hye, Texas, USA
Reviewed
August 19, 2021 (edited October 26, 2021)
N: Tons of corn sitting in tons of oak. Everything else is just a whisper behind that. Caramel, slight tropical fruit, toffee, cinnamon - okay, the cinnamon is not a whisper, actually quite loud, but also part of the oak. Mint, menthol, maybe some green rye grain.
P: Cinnamon, cinnamon, cinnamon, sweet corn, cinnamon, caramel. Maybe some sour fruit behind all that cinnamon. It's also all finish straight from the beginning - hot, hot, hot. (I think I'm repeating words because there just isn't much to say about this.) Tiny bit of bitterness at the tail end closes it out.
This is really a one-trick pony and that trick is basically getting you to lick the
sides of a barrel, and paying heftily for the privilege. This just drinks way too young.
Add to that that this is easily the worst value in whiskey I've come across yet. There are vastly better bottles available for half of the $72 I paid for this. I still sometimes see Eagle Rare around $35. This isn't even on par with Wild Turkey 101 (~$25) and maybe not even Evan Williams BIB (~$15). To take it back to Texas, Balcones bottles in the $70-80 range have all been fantastic, and the cheaper bottles have at least been interesting, if not my personal favorites.
Then there's all the Texas exceptionalism tied into the marketing language on the bottle. Generally annoying for a former Texan, like myself, who just never quite got it. But when it turns out the juice inside the bottle is actually, frankly, kind of terrible, you have to start assuming something else. Could it be that GB has intentionally made a difficult to enjoy whiskey and then marketed it in such a way as to appeal to the roughnecks in the oil fields, the wannabe cowboys from Laredo to El Paso, the guys who are ten years past their Friday Night Lights days and are now accountants or mortgage brokers - people who want and expect some pain with their whiskey, and are willing to pay for it (at least sometimes), especially when there's a Lone Star on the bottle and reminder not to leave the bottle in your truck on a hot day because it might just leave a mess.
Point is, I guess, it's easier for me to see this as a marketing product rather than a substantive bottle of whiskey that adds anything to the Texas whiskey conversation. And that's even more of a disappointment because of all the good things I hear about Balmorhea and Cowboy.
72.0
USD
per
Bottle
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@PBMichiganWolverine Maybe in part, but Cowboy and Balmo don't live on the same shelf as this at any store I've seen. I would bet the average Garrison buyer doesn't even know those exist. (I would guess no one reading this is an average Garrison buyer.) There are probably some enthusiasts, like us, who are what you describe - hell, that was probably me before I tried this - but I think that's a very small, niche market. Maybe I just had a particularly off bottle or this somehow particularly offends my genetic code/tastebuds. Idk. It's a huge misfire for me.
I've met several Texas transplants here in Denver who are all very mad that the cats out of the bag on cowboy and no longer can acquire it, even if they wanted to pay the insane secondhand markup there is for cowboy
@skillerified i think the market for this is that rather large group of folks that are apprehensive, rightfully so, to splurge on the Cowboy or Balmo. So, this comes as the affordable option.
It sounds like the lesson here is pony up and spend for the Balmo and Cowboy - if I can find them.
@skillerified I 💯 agree. A dumb way to run a business and these should really cost under $30 since it’s their worst barrels, but marketing can definitely do some impressive things.
@pkingmartin Maybe, but that doesn't explain the price point. And it also seems like a dumb way to run a business or a distillery. I think they somehow have found a market for this that is just hard for me to imagine.
Honestly for the price point I 💯 agree that rhe small batch is a terrible value and a hard pass. Only Balmo, Cowboy and the occasional cask strength barrel pick come close to living up to the considerable price tag IMO. Nice review.
I think their problem is that they take all their good to great barrels to make their single barrel selection, Balmorhea and Cowboy. After that they just have their average to below average barrels to mix together creating their small batch.