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Garrison Brothers, the oldest legal whiskey distillery in Texas, is located in the town of Hye just about an hour outside of Austin. Its wheated bourbon is bold and assertive, the result of the intense climate in that part of the state and the use of some smaller barrels, maturation factors that sometimes result in some truly impressive hazmat expressions. The latest release, however, is closer to the core expression in terms of strength: The distillery just announced its first bottled-in-bond bourbon, and we have the details.

Garrison Brothers‘s flagship whiskey is the 94-proof Small Batch Bourbon. Beyond that, the distillery has a pretty wide range of expressions, including a few cask-finished whiskeys that, given the amount of time they spend in a new set of barrels, should really be called secondary maturations. These include Guadalupe, which spends two additional years in port barrels; Lady Bird, which is infused with honey and then put into Cognac barrels for three years; and the 8-year-old Laguna Madre, which splits its time between new American oak and French Limousin oak.

Then there are the hazmat bourbons, some of which are much too hot for my taste (although they certainly have legions of fans). The last release of Cowboy Bourbon, for example, clocked in at 146.4 proof, well above the 140 proof that defines hazmat (the FDA has deemed whiskey that strong unsafe to bring onboard an aircraft). That makes the new Bottled in Bond Bourbon sound much more palatable to those, like me, who prefer a little less burn. A quick reminder: Bottled in bond means the whiskey was aged for at least four years in a federally bonded warehouse and bottled at exactly 100 proof, as well as bring the product of one distillery and one distillation season (as opposed to a blend of barrels from different years).

Garrison Brothers Bottle in Bond, the 10th bourbon to join the distillery’s lineup, was distilled in the fall of 2019, aged for six years, and bottled, of course, at 100 proof. “From day one, Garrison Brothers has cooked our own mash, fermented our own distillers beer, pot-distilled, and aged our bourbon right here in Hye, Texas,” said founder Dan Garrison in a statement. “There’s no BS here. For six summers, this whiskey moved in and out of the wood, tightening its flavor and deepening its color. We proofed it down to 100 and put our name on it. This release marks a milestone for Texas distilling, [master distiller] Donnis Todd, and our entire team.”

So that explains the what, but how about the why? Given the tight regulations on bourbon, what does a bottled-in-bond release add to the conversation anymore? The Garrison Brothers website offers one clue: “Bottled in Bond was the first consumer protection for American whiskey. A century later, it still signals trust.” The new bourbon (SRP $100) will be available starting February 28 at the distillery, and then nationwide starting in March. In the meantime, you can find the rest of the collection available at websites like ReserveBar.