Nancy Garrison is a fourth generation Austinite. Her family is well known in town for their success in retail and real estate. Growing up in the family business, Nancy has spent most of her life and career in textiles, marketing, and sales. She attended University of Texas at Austin, Moody College of Communications and earned a B.S. in Communications. At graduation, she was recruited for an executive leadership program at Filene’s, a department store in Boston. There she became an assistant buyer and was promoted to buyer and department manager. In 1990, Nancy moved back to Austin to lead her family business, Scarbroughs Department Stores. She served as Scarbroughs President for 15 years until 2009, when the family closed all stores after over 100 years in business.

Nancy and her husband, Dan, founded Garrison Brothers Distillery in 2006 in Hye, Texas. It became the first legal whiskey distillery in Texas, and the first distillery outside of Kentucky to produce authentic, handcrafted, corn-to-cork bourbon whiskey. Their first bottled bourbon entered the market in 2010. As co-founder, Nancy is very involved in the day-to-day operations, sales, and marketing. She hosts bourbon dinners and special events across the nation, works with the sales and marketing teams, calling on accounts, running tastings and meeting new people, and directly influenced and inspired the creation of some of Garrison Brothers’ most beloved expressions: HoneyDew, Lady Bird, and Sonora.

In 2018, she co-founded Good Bourbon For A Good Cause, a non-profit that fundraises for a variety of causes including local and Texas communities. To date, they have raised over $1.4M to support veterans, preserve Texas history and landscapes, and strengthen local communities. Currently, Nancy serves as the President and Executive Director of Good Bourbon For A Good Cause. She is also an active board member for the Texas Restaurant Association and the Texas Restaurant Foundation.

Always an important voice in her local community, Nancy has previously volunteered on numerous non-profit boards in Austin including The Trail Foundation, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Junior League of Austin, and Women’s Symphony League of Austin. She is the proud mother of two and relishes family time spent traveling and hiking the trails of beautiful Colorado. Sometimes called the Queen Bee of Garrison Brothers, Nancy enjoys her bourbon most often neat.