Cranberry | Cherry cough drop | Robust oak | Bootstrap molasses | Cacao nibs | Burnt orange rind

Cinnamon syrup | Raisin | Barrel aged root beer | Dark brown sugar | Hazelnut | Thick oak

Cinnamon syrup | Aged tannic oak | Leather | Barrel char | Roasted malt | Full-flavored | Long

Garrison Brothers is back with another new release, this time noteworthy because it’s the company’s oldest bourbon released to date and that it was also aged for half of its time in French Limousin oak, which is often the type of oak used to age Cognac. Anyone that has tasted Garrison Brothers standard, lower aged bourbon can attest to how potent its oak content is at only 3 years old as a result of Texas’ hot climate. The question that then arises: Is higher aged Garrison Brothers bourbon a good thing?

Perhaps the larger elephant in the room is the bourbon’s price. Typically when a producer releases their oldest whiskey to date, it comes with a higher price tag by default, regardless of what it tastes like. Garrison Brothers standard and finished bourbons have always carried a premium price and their limited releases go even higher. Last year, the company’s Cowboy Bourbon release carried a $250 price tag for a 6 year, 140.8 proof bourbon. Laguna Madre Bourbon is 8 years old, and 4 of those years it was aged in French Limousin oak. But - and it's a big but - it's only 101 proof. On paper that’s an equation that doesn't quite compute. Are higher age and a rare finishing barrel worth more, or is proof where the better value lies?

As you can see, Garrison Brothers Laguna Madre Bourbon is a release that poses a lot of questions and is an utterly fascinating bourbon because of it. But what is interesting is how all of the questions are instinctively tied to one another. Yes, an 8 year Garrison Brothers bourbon at 140 proof aged in American oak would have been extremely potent, but the decision to age the bourbon in French Limousin oak combined with a lower proof point works in this bourbon’s favor. Intruding oak is ever present throughout, but because it is tempered with a mix of white American oak and French Limousin oak, it makes for a much more dynamic oak-filled sip. Garrison’s trademark big flavor is still present, but all of the decisions made to create this bourbon will make it more accessible to a wider range of bourbon drinkers. Though its high price will counter that accessibility and limit who can afford to buy it, taking the bourbon for how it tastes, it's another winner for Garrison Brothers.

The bottle in review is number 1545 out of 3000.