Full disclosure from the start: I was raised in Louisville, KY, and I am rather partial to Kentucky Bourbon.
I was recently sent a bottle of Garrison Brothers Small Batch Bourbon from Texas, and I'm not sure I adore it, but it is absolutely decent and a great jumping off point for a discussion of Whiskey terroir. And very timely one at that considering I just received a copy of Rob Arnold's new book The Terroir of Whiskey. I haven't read the entire book, but after poking through bits of it, I think Arnold is onto a few things.
This Texas Bourbon doesn't smell or taste much like Kentucky Bourbon, nor does it remotely taste like Scotch whisky. The color has a more red tint to it that you would normally expect from a Kentucky Bourbon. The nose is full of mesquite, pecan wood, and bread dough aromas. It's woody and toasted pecan nutshell-like like as all get out. There isn't much sweetness, as in vanilla or caramel here at all. It's a spicy, dry, woody Bourbon that tastes of the hot, dry West and not at all of the Southeast. There's a bit of cinnamon and a whole lot of leather, but not a lot of luxurious candied fruit and vanilla here.
This Garrison Brothers Small Batch is a chapped, dried out, spicy, beef jerky, cowboy sort of a whisky. I don't think it's for everyone, but I do think it has a profound sense of place. To me, it really just suggests an entirely different aging environment from that of Kentucky or Ireland - a much drier, hotter environment that manifests itself in a very different style of whisky.
I find this a challenging Bourbon to rate because it is just SO different from what I am used to, but it has a sense of place. I'm going to give it a middle-of-the-road rating for now. I might prefer a lot of Kentucky Bourbon, but this Texas Bourbon does have tons of personality. (86 Points)
The suggested retail price of Garrison Brothers Small Batch is $84.99 and it is available here.
- Tim Teichgraeber
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