By Richard Thomas
Rating: A
(Credit: Garrison Brothers Distillery)
Just before Christmas 2025, the “whisky fairy” brought me a special treat: the 2025 release of Garrison Brothers Cowboy Bourbon. The Texas distillery was one of the trailblazers of craft whiskey: they narrowly missed being the first Texas distiller to put a whiskey on the market, and were pioneers in the now well-developed concept of making whiskey to fit local circumstances rather than copying what Kentucky was doing. The later point is especially important to the Garrison Brothers identity, because their local climate produces a fierce maturation cycle and some very thirsty angels taking their share (i.e. very high evaporation rates). Both barrel extraction and volume loss are both operating at a maximum at Garrison Brothers, creating an intense-but-shortened maturation cycle that demands the most from the oak barrel.
Cowboy Bourbon is Garrison Brothers’ premier, made from the favorite and personally chosen barrels of Dan and Donnis Garrison. These are set aside for an extra couple of years of maturation before dumping and bottling at cask strength, and the nature of maturation in the Hye, Texas climate ensures that these releases are often “Hazmat” (140 proof or higher). The annual release of Cowboy Bourbon is often attended by long, overnight lines outside the distillery, an event similar to the release of Snowflake by Stranahan’s in Denver (albeit without the Burning Man level of suffering that attends camping out in a parking lot in a Colorado December).
(Credit: Richard Thomas)
So, Cowboy Bourbon is special, but I was thrilled to get my lovely stocking stuffer of a sample for more reasons than just that. The last time The Whiskey Reviewer reviewed a Cowboy Bourbon was 2017, and the last time I got to do it myself was a decade ago! 2015 was so long ago that the expression was only the second Cowboy Bourbon ever, and the bottling had not yet picked up its signature golden wax seal. It is well past time to catch up.
The Bourbon
This year’s Cowboy Bourbon was definitely Hazmat, coming out at 146.4 proof. The pour was dark amber, with a surprisingly deep, hard red tint to it.
As expected, something north of 73% alcohol was too hot as it was to enjoy as is; I firmly believe that the virtue of Hazmat whiskey, when there is a virtue, is what comes out of a maturation that would drive the alcohol content so high and not the high alcohol content in and of itself. The nerds who insist on drinking it at that level can do so if they wish, but they are objectively and provably missing the point. So, I put a couple of splashed of water in, enough to dial it down to approximately 100 proof.
The nose smacked of a fire-toasted marshmallow skewered on a stick of cedar, with the end of that skewer consequently charred. The sweet aspect of the palate jinks towards stone fruit, like a boozy stewed plum and apricot concoction with plenty of vanilla mixed in, but seasoned with cookie spices and more cedar. The char notes from the nose are completely and suddenly absent. The finish continues the stone fruit and vanilla current, before plunging into a lightly woody, quite nutty note.
Cowboy Bourbon has, if anything, improved over the intervening years. With some watering down, the bourbon flowers into a lovely and complex sipper; with only a few drops of water, it is a ballsy, blunt-headed bourbon bomb guaranteed to blow the back of your head off.
The Price
The MSRP is listed at $250, but some retailers have it marked as high as $300.
