Balmorhea Bourbon Review
Can bourbon from Texas really be the best in the world?
As I type those words I can almost hear the rumbles of thunder from bourbon makers and bourbon drinkers throughout Kentucky. But a bourbon called Balmorhea from Garrison Brothers in Texas has been singled out in Jim Murray’s Whiskey Bible four times now, including two years in a row (2019 and 2020), as the American Micro Whiskey of the Year.
This is quite the accolade. Leading whisky writer Jim Murray has chosen Balmorhea not just as the best bourbon from a micro distillery in the USA, but the best whisky, which is a much bigger category. Remember, all bourbon is whiskey but not all whiskey is bourbon.
What is Bourbon?
In fact, it’s that distinction which is responsible for the very existence of Balmorhea. Dan Garrison, the founder of Garrison Brothers, wanted to make a Texas whiskey. As part of his research, he visited Kentucky bourbon distilleries and was told by tour guides that bourbon could only be made in Kentucky.
No-one would make that claim these days, as the public is so much better informed, but back then it was part of the folklore about bourbon – only in Kentucky. Dan Garrison checked with the authorities and was told no, that’s not true. There are several strict regulations about bourbon, like it has to be made from a grain mix that is at least 51% corn, and that it has to be aged in new charred oak barrels, but it only has to be made in the USA to be called bourbon, not specifically in Kentucky.
Garrison Brothers
Right, thought Dan Garrison, why don’t I try making the first bourbon ever produced in Texas? He soon discovered that there might be problems. He made his first batch of bourbon according to the legal regulations, put the spirit into new charred oak barrels, and waited.
What he hadn’t allowed for was the heat of a Texas summer. Texas temperatures are a little hotter than Kentucky. The first barrels started to leak, then they cracked, and eventually broke altogether losing hundreds of gallons of what would have been the first Texas bourbon ever made.
Undeterred, Garrison found a cooperage that would make him those virgin oak barrels but using thicker staves. This time it worked. Though the company was first founded in 2006, in 2010 Garrison Brothers became the first (legal) bourbon whiskey distillery in Texas, and one of the first distilleries outside Kentucky to produce authentic bourbon.
There may also be something about that hot Texas climate that’s actually more suited to bourbon production than Kentucky’s climate. As Jim Murray observed in his Whiskey Bible, talking about Balmorhea: “Four years in Texas evidently equate to 23 in Kentucky: there’s a Geography lesson for you.”
Accolades
It isn’t just Jim Murray that Garrison Brothers has impressed. Their whiskies have won numerous medals and awards and their distillery was voted Best Craft Whiskey Distillery in America by readers of USA Today in 2017.
Photo by Julia Keim
Balmorhea Review
So, was I keen to try Balmorhea? Is the Pope a Catholic? Balmorhea comes handsomely presented in a gift box with a chunky medal around the neck reminding you of the Jim Murray accolade.
It’s rather daunting opening the bottle and pouring yourself a shot of a bourbon that one of the world’s leading whisky writers has heaped such praise on. Suppose I didn’t like it? What would that say about me?
I needn’t have worried. One sniff and you get a blast of aromas. It’s gorgeous and rich, full of caramel, toffee, coffee, chocolate, smoke, spices, and a sweet nuttiness, like pecans.
On the palate, it was even more intense with caramel and toffee flavors, and vanilla, and that nutty taste. Normally when drinking whisky I prefer it neat or with just 1-2 drops of water. Here something told me that this was so rich it needed more than 1-2 drops, so I popped an ice cube into the glass and let it mellow for a minute or two.
With most whiskies this would be sacrilege, as the melting ice would dilute the flavors, but here my hunch paid off and the tastes were intensified rather than diluted. The mix of caramel, toffee, and vanilla came even more to the fore, while there was also a spiciness by way of cloves and pepper, and the taste of those charred barrels. It may well be, as Jim Murray observed, that a few years in Texas intensifies the flavors of the barrel as much as several years in Kentucky does.
Balmorhea is aged for four years in new American white oak barrels, and is then transferred to a second new American white oak barrel, and aged for a further year. Maybe in four Texas years the spirit can suck every bit of taste out of the barrel, but if you start over with a new barrel you’re pumping even more flavors into the bourbon.
I now have a dilemma. This Texas bourbon is so good that I want to drink it every night, but I also want to keep it for special occasions, and save it to serve to a few select friends who are really bourbon aficionados. And Jim Murray sure knows his stuff.
Jim Murray’s Whiskey Bible
Jim Murray is a writer whose name is so associated with whisky (and later whiskey), that people assume he is Scottish, as Murray is a Scottish surname. In fact Jim Murray is English, and has been writing books about whisky since 1994 when he published Jim Murray’s Irish Whiskey Almanac. In 1997 he wrote his first book about bourbon, and in 2004 published the very first Jim Murray’s Whiskey Bible, which has been published annually ever since.
More Information
Visit the Garrison Brothers website. There’s also a chapter on Garrison Brothers in the Curious Bartender’s Whiskey Road Trip, one of the best whisky books I’ve read in several years. You can buy this bourbon at Caskers.