Garrison Brothers is a bourbon distillery on a ranch in Hye, in the Texas Hill Country, founded in 2006 by Dan and Nancy Garrison.1,2,3 It got its permits in 2007.2,3,4 Its bourbon ages in the Texas climate, where the distillery says four summers may compare to twenty milder Kentucky summers.5
In 2003 Dan Garrison lost his job in software marketing in Austin and went to Kentucky to tour bourbon distilleries and learn from their distillers.1,6 In 2005 he bought a small ranch an hour west of Austin.5,7 The Copper Cowgirl, a hand-run copper pot still first built for Wild Turkey, was bought the same year; a pot still boils fermented beer so its alcohol rises as vapor.
It filled its first bottles in 2010.2,3,10 That year it began building a new bourbon kitchen, where ground grain is cooked into mash, and bought Fat Man and Little Boy, 500-gallon copper pot stills.5,11,12 Until the Spring 2014 release, all its bourbon came from the Copper Cowgirl.5,11,12 In 2018 it bought Big Johnson, a 2,000-gallon pot still.5,6 In 2023 Distiller Magazine reported a new three-phase power line that would let it run its 2,000-gallon still more than once a day and double its production.6 An expansion finished in April 2024 gave it 50% more production capacity and added the Show Barn, a 25,000-square-foot rickhouse, or barrel warehouse.10 In August 2026 Nancy Garrison became co-chief executive, continuing her partnership with Dan.1
It mashes 74% corn, 15% wheat and 11% malted barley, so its bourbon is wheated rather than made with rye.2,10,12 In 2016 it grew its wheat on the ranch and got its corn from Panhandle farms, while its barley came from the Pacific Northwest and Canada.2,10,12 It uses a sweet mash, starting each batch fresh instead of adding sour mash from the last one, as most bourbon distilleries do.5,7 The mash ferments for four to five days with the distillery's own yeast, making a beer that is often 17-18% alcohol.5,7 Dan Garrison chose to distill his whiskey just once, believing a second run removes flavor from the grain.10 The new spirit is cut to strength with rainwater harvested from the rooftops and filtered with ultraviolet light.5 Up to 40% of the spirit can evaporate from a barrel, and its barrel staves are twice as thick as normal to stand up to the Texas heat.5
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