Tasting notes

nose

Caramel blondies and toffee with spiced raisin, dark chocolate and caramelized oak, and a spicy grain edge

palate

Creamy and oily; vanilla bean and vanilla custard, hazelnut, saltwater taffy and milk chocolate, with maple sugar candy, black pepper and a flicker of root beer over dense charred oak

finish

Long; almond and coconut candy and white chocolate linger with caramel, then black pepper, a hint of leather and seasoned barrel char close it with a nutty undertone

Mash bill

74% white corn, 15% red winter wheat, 11% malted barley. Laguna Madre is made from Garrison Brothers' one wheated recipe of food-grade white corn, soft red winter wheat and malted barley. Every batch is a sweet mash of grain milled that day, fermented four to five days with the house yeast into a beer of 17 to 18% alcohol.

Awards

• Double Gold — San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2021
• Double Platinum — ASCOT Awards 2021
• Double Gold — TAG Global Spirits Awards 2024
• Gold — San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2024

Why it's craft

Laguna Madre spends half of its eight years in French oak: after four years in small new American barrels, the bourbon moves into Limousin oak casks custom-made by the French cooper Radoux, wood the distillery chose for the vanilla and lignin it gives. Garrison Brothers, founded in Hye in 2006 by Dan and Nancy Garrison, distills it from its own wheated mash on copper pot stills and ages it on the ranch through eight Hill Country summers. It comes out once a year, about 3,000 bottles in 2026.