When it comes to limited-release whiskeys, few things get our attention like a genuinely crafted bourbon with a story worth telling. Garrison Brothers Distillery just announced their 2025 Laguna Madre release, and honestly, this is exactly the kind of authentic brand initiative that makes us wish we could be down in Hye, Texas on September 6th, camping out in line at 8 AM with the other bourbon enthusiasts.
As big fans of both limited releases and brands that give back in meaningful ways, this latest offering from Garrison Brothers - Texas's first legal whiskey distillery hits all the right notes.
Eight Years of Texas Hill Country Aging Creates Something Special
The 2025 Laguna Madre represents an eight-year commitment to exceptional aging that separates genuine craft distilling from marketing gimmicks. According to Garrison Brothers, this expression spends its first four years in hand-selected white American oak barrels before transferring to rare Limousin oak casks for another four years in the intense Texas Hill Country heat.
Those Limousin oak casks are sourced from central French forests where trees must reach 120 years of age before harvesting. The oak's powerful vanilla and lignin content creates flavor profiles you simply cannot achieve through shortcuts - vanilla bean, hazelnut, saltwater taffy, and milk chocolate notes with a creamy mouthfeel that Master Distiller Donnis Todd describes as reminiscent of an Almond Joy candy bar.
With only 3,000 bottles produced for 2025, you're looking at genuine scarcity driven by actual supply constraints of those rare French oak casks. The bourbon has earned gold medals from the 2025 Ascot Awards and San Francisco World Spirits Competition, along with double gold from the 2024 TAG Global Spirits Awards.
What really gets our attention is how Garrison Brothers connects this release to FlatsWorthy, a nonprofit focused on Texas coastal conservation. This isn't corporate virtue signaling - it's personal involvement from Master Distiller Donnis Todd and his son in protecting the very waters that give Laguna Madre its name. FlatsWorthy works on habitat restoration across Texas coastal areas, and each bottle comes with educational materials about their mission, housed in custom wooden display cases featuring Texas Gulf Coast photography.
How to Actually Get a Bottle of This Limited Release
Here's the practical reality: if you want this bourbon, you need a plan. The September 6th distillery release offers the first 1,000 bottles to people willing to make the trip to Hye, Texas. The remaining 2,000 bottles hit Garrison Brothers' e-commerce site on September 12th and select retailers in mid-September.
At $349.99, the 2025 Laguna Madre positions itself in premium territory, but that price reflects the extended aging process, limited availability, and custom wooden display case. The distillery proved their charitable commitment during their 2020 Laguna Madre launch, raising over $400,000 for Team Rubicon and local hospitality workers affected by COVID-19.
Why This Release Deserves Attention
The 2025 Garrison Brothers Laguna Madre represents what premium American whiskey should be - carefully crafted, authentically limited, and connected to values that matter. While we'd love to be standing in that line come September 6th, we respect what this distillery has built in the Texas Hill Country.
For men who appreciate genuine craftsmanship and brands that give back authentically, this release offers something increasingly rare in today's market: integrity you can taste.
Photos Courtesy of Garrison Brothers
