The Garrison Brothers Cowboy Bourbon 2018 Release is comprised of 182 barrels dubbed “piggy bank barrels” by master distiller Donnis Todd — barrels set aside over years of production specifically for the Cowboy program, selected for exceptional quality and bottled uncut and unfiltered at full cask strength. This is the most allocated and collected expression from Texas’s first legal whiskey distillery.
Cowboy Bourbon is Garrison Brothers’ annual cask-strength release — no water addition, no chill filtration, no blending with sourced spirit. The 2018 release draws on barrels aged through multiple Texas Hill Country summers, where temperatures exceeding 100°F dramatically accelerate the extraction of flavor from new American oak. The result is a bourbon of extraordinary concentration and depth.
Tasting Notes
Deep mahogany. The nose is intense: dark caramel, vanilla, dried cherry, and toasted oak with hints of brown sugar and leather. The palate delivers extraordinary concentration — butterscotch, dark fruit, cinnamon, and rich oak tannins at full barrel proof. The finish is long, warm, and sweet with lingering vanilla and spice.
Specs
Distillery: Garrison Brothers Distillery, Hye, Texas
Type: Texas Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Release: 2018 Cowboy Bourbon
Barrels: 182 (uncut, unfiltered)
Size: 750ml
Browse all Garrison Brothers and bourbon at Wooden Cork.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are “piggy bank barrels”?
Garrison Brothers master distiller Donnis Todd’s term for the barrels set aside over multiple years of production — held back from standard releases specifically for the Cowboy program. Like a piggy bank, the distillery accumulates these exceptional barrels over time and draws them down for each annual Cowboy release. The 2018 release comprises 182 such barrels.
How does Texas heat affect Cowboy Bourbon’s flavor?
Hill Country summers regularly exceed 100°F, causing the bourbon to expand deeply into the charred oak staves and contract as temperatures drop — a dramatically accelerated version of the seasonal cycling that happens over many more years in cooler climates. The result is a richly oaked, concentrated, and intensely flavored bourbon that develops faster than Kentucky equivalents.
