There’s a particular kind of spring morning in the Hill Country that makes you stop talking mid-sentence. The air is cool enough to keep you honest, but the sun is already warming the limestone. A breeze comes through and you catch cedar, damp soil, and that faint chalky smell of caliche dust when a truck eases down a ranch road.

Then you see it.

Wildflowers in patches that weren’t there last week. Bluebonnets in clumps where the land dips just right. Paintbrush leaning into the light. Little bursts of color that feel less like landscaping and more like Texas doing what Texas does when it decides winter’s over.

That weekend is my marker every year. Not a date on a calendar. A feeling.

And when it shows up, I think about Lady Bird Bourbon.

Not because it’s a limited release, though it is. Not because we’re proud of it, though we are. I think about it because Lady Bird has become our spring signal. It’s the bottle that reminds me we’re not only building a bourbon business in the Hill Country. We’re tending a place.

Out here, the land keeps score. You can love it and still scar it. You can grow and improve and welcome more people into the story, and still leave behind disturbed soil, bare patches, and the wear that comes with years of construction and change. We’ve had plenty of that at Garrison Brothers Distillery, and I’ve learned that stewardship isn’t something you talk about after the work is done. It’s part of the work.

That’s where the name matters.

When you say Lady Bird Johnson, I don’t think politics. I think stewardship. Beauty with purpose. Civic pride that shows up in the unglamorous places, like roadside ditches, neglected corners, and ground that needs healing. I think about leaving things better than you found them, not as a slogan, but as a standard.

Nancy and I want to live up to that standard. We also want our distillery to live up to it.

That’s why our partnership with the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center has become personal to us. We’ve leaned on their expertise to help us replant and restore areas affected by years of building and growth, so the land around the distillery can recover the right way, with patience and with respect. It’s not about making things look “pretty.” It’s about making them healthy again.

The Wildflower Center is the state botanic garden and arboretum managed by the University of Texas at Austin. It’s a Texas treasure in its own right, with nearly 900 species of native plants across gardens, natural areas, and an arboretum, plus programs that teach people how to understand and protect the landscapes we all depend on. 

Lady Bird Bourbon is our way of honoring that work with more than words.

For every bottle sold, we donate $5 to the Wildflower Center.

What Lady Bird Bourbon is, and why it tastes like it does

Lady Bird starts its life as our Texas Straight Bourbon, aged four years in new American oak. Then we do something that changes the whole conversation. We infuse that bourbon with Texas wildflower honey from Burleson’s for about eight to nine months, letting the honey deepen into the whiskey instead of simply sitting on top of it.

After that, we move the bourbon into French Cognac XO casks for another three years. It’s a long finish, and it’s the reason Lady Bird doesn’t drink like a novelty. The cognac brings a polished richness and a kind of dark-fruit elegance that plays beautifully with the honey. 

We bottle it at 114 proof. It’s bold, but it’s not rough. It’s layered. It’s patient. 

If you’re the kind of person who likes to sit with a pour and let it open up, Lady Bird will reward you. On the nose, I get fresh-cut grass and sweet honey first, then deeper notes that remind me of cocoa and toasted wafer. The palate leans into warm breakfast sweetness, dark cherry, and chocolate, with a little malt richness behind it. The finish hangs around, long and satisfying, with honey and cognac trading places all the way down.

That’s the best way I know to describe it. It tastes like spring feels out here. Bright at the top, grounded underneath.

Release day

This year’s Lady Bird Bourbon release is Saturday, April 4, 2026.

We’ll be right here in Hye, Texas, watching the Hill Country do what it does in April. Wildflowers. Wind. Warm sun on limestone. And a bourbon that was built for that exact moment.

If you bring a bottle home, I hope you enjoy it for what it is, a honey-infused, Cognac-finished Texas bourbon we’re proud to put our name on. I also hope you know what else you’re holding.

You’re holding a small piece of our commitment to this land, and a tangible way to support the people who’ve devoted their lives to protecting Texas native plants.

That’s what the name stands for. That’s what we’re trying to live up to.

Salud,

Dan Garrison