A Toast to Texas Waters
If you walked into one of those dinners this past August, you might’ve thought it was just another night out in Texas. The lights were low, the tables were set, and the air smelled like seared steak and oak-aged bourbon. But if you looked a little closer, listened past the laughter and the clinking glasses, […]
Sonora Bourbon: A Love Letter to Texas Beauty and the Women Who Bring It to Life
Every now and then, something comes along that reminds you how special this journey really is, and how proud you are of the people who share it with you. For me, that something is Sonora. Seven years in the making, Sonora is more than a bourbon. She’s a reflection of the rugged beauty of Texas, […]
The Fifth Release of Laguna Madre Bourbon
Last Saturday, in the Hill Country heat, I stood at the gates of our distillery and looked out at a line of cars that stretched for what seemed like miles. They weren’t here for a concert, or a rodeo, or even for barbecue. They were here for a bottle of bourbon. Our bourbon. Laguna Madre. […]
A Hill Country Roadmap in Six Sips and a Wink
The Hill Country of Texas has no need for a Chamber of Commerce— Mother Nature handles the sunrise and she’ll handle the brochures as well. Still, when the PBS Hidden Gems team rolled into Hye with a truckload of cameras and a host who’s logged more air miles than most satellites, I wondered what fresh […]
Standing Together for the Texas Hill Country Relief
The news out of the Texas Hill Country this holiday weekend has been devastating. Before dawn on July 4, as much as 20 inches of rain fell in just a few hours, pushing the Guadalupe River far beyond its banks and sweeping away camps, homes, and entire stretches of roadway. We personally know several of […]
Fire Without the Works
Out here in Hye, Texas, we like to say that July 4th doesn’t need much dressing up. A warm breeze. A cold drink. Something sizzling on the grill. A flag catching the wind just right. That’s enough. Still, there’s something about Independence Day that sneaks up and grabs you by the collar. Maybe it’s the […]
Three Cheers on the Fourteenth: The Spirit, the Soldiers, and the Stars & Stripes
By—just a fella who knows his way around a mash bill and a tall tale Dawn in Hye, Texas, doesn’t sneak in—it stretches wide across the hills, rattles the cicadas awake, and washes the bottling room windows in warm, amber light. Inside, a line of volunteers—many of them veterans—are dipping bottles of our Small Batch […]
Red, White & Remembered
Hill Country Hush Most seasons announce themselves in the Hill Country with a fistful of color. Spring barges in on bluebonnets. Autumn drapes the canyons in sweet-gum reds. Even winter, what little we get of it, carves its initials on cedar trunks with a north wind that smells like mesquite smoke and frost. But late […]
The Day Bourbon Became American: May 4th and the Birthright We Bottle
Once upon a time—not so long ago, yet worlds away in spirit—bourbon was nothing but whiskey. You might find it distilled by moonlight in copper stills nestled deep in Appalachian hollows or bottled by bootleggers who cared less for tradition and more about evading the law. It was America’s working-class elixir, enjoyed by farmers after […]
Lady Bird Bourbon: Texas Legacy in a Bottle
In Texas, nothing good ever happens fast. The land takes its time—rivers carve canyons over millennia, oak trees stretch skyward for centuries, wildflowers bloom in their own season, unbothered by schedules or expectations. Lady Bird Johnson understood that. She knew lasting beauty isn’t built overnight—it’s cultivated with patience, care, and an unwavering belief that the […]
How a Little Texas Swimming Hole Helped Us Make One Damn Fine Bourbon
Out in the West Texas desert, where the wind kicks up the dust and the horizon stretches forever, there’s a place that doesn’t make a lick of sense. It’s an oasis—cool, clear water bubbling up from underground, feeding the largest spring-fed pool in the world. We call it Balmorhea State Park. If you grew up […]
The World’s Best Bourbon? You’re Damn Right It’s From Texas
You’ve heard of Vegas, right? City of lights, luck, and legends. Well, last month, in the neon glow of the Las Vegas Global Spirit Awards, something big happened that left a mark far beyond the Strip. A small-town Texas distillery—you might’ve heard of us, Garrison Brothers—took home the title of “World’s Best Bourbon.” That’s right, […]