Sit back and enjoy the view (and whiskey) at Garrison Brothers Distillery in Hye. Courtesy photo
By Terry Schroth / Contributing Writer
Need to relax after a long day exploring the Highland Lakes? Take to the road—windows down to savor the fresh Hill Country air—and, within moments, you could be enjoying a handcrafted spirit at one of the area’s award-winning distilleries. Chilled or neat, the experience can’t be beat.
What makes our whiskey producers so special? It’s the top-notch, top-shelf product and location, location, location.
Wet your whistle at these Highland Lakes distilleries.
Garrison Brothers Distillery
1827 Hye-Albert Road in Hye
Arriving at Garrison Brothers Distillery is like pulling into Grandpa’s ranch after a dusty day on the trail. Follow the winding dirt road past a few head of cattle grazing on fields of wildflowers and search for a shady spot to hitch your “horse and wagon.”
Rustic log buildings of all shapes and sizes dot the rural grounds of Garrison Brothers. Award-winning straight bourbon is served from behind the bar of a saloon-esque tasting room lined wall to wall with windows. Here and there, rocking chairs sway gently on front porches and under live oaks, inviting you to sit back and enjoy the view—and, drink in hand—a taste of Texas.
This is, of course, all by design and part of the allure of the first legal bourbon distillery in the Lone Star State.
Every expression of Garrison Brothers bourbon is made from a unique, sweet mash of the exact same ingredients and aged in custom-made, American white oak barrels for four years. While several bourbons are in the lineup, the ones for which the distillery is most famous are the Laguna Madre, seasoned in French limousin oak barrels for an additional four years, and the Cowboy Bourbon, also aged longer, uncut, unfiltered, and then bottled at cask-strength. Both practically sell out before they’re even bottled.
You can also tour Garrison Brothers, something almost as popular as the bourbon itself. Visitors stop at the distillery, mash room, and barrel barn, learning the process and sampling the product along the way. The tour wraps up with a tasting of some of the most coveted bourbons in Texas, which you’ll definitely want to take home, along with cool souvenirs from the gift shop.
Once you’ve finished your look-see and bellied up to the bar, find a rocker, kick back with your friends, and enjoy the vibes.
FAN FAVORITE: Frozen Dr Pepper and bourbon
FUN FACT: You can volunteer to help on bottling days (and get an employee discount), but the wait list is long, currently at 18,000 people.
Iron Wolf Ranch & Distillery
101 Burnet County Road 409 in Spicewood
Sitting high on a hill, Iron Wolf Ranch & Distillery offers tasty spirits and scenic views. The menu includes a gold medal bourbon, a citrus-forward gin, a seven-times-distilled corn vodka, straight rye, a bourbon barrel-aged rum, a special release 9-year-old bourbon due out for the holidays, and a horseradish vodka for a sizzling Bloody Mary. Add to that two flavors of whiskey: hot scotch/butterscotch and iron-hot cinnamon (both made from young bourbon).It’s hard to decide which one to order first.
Founders Glenda and Jordan Watters, along with their partner, killer distiller Randy Aylieff, have created not just a distillery/tasting room but a fun, family-oriented destination to boot. The 15-acre ranch has disc golf, yard games, a kids’ play area, and three live music stages, including one in the new indoor main tasting room that seats about 200. The bourbon garden stage between the distillery and tasting room is completely covered, providing protection from the elements, plenty of space for a band, and seating/standing room for 400. The big, open-air concert stage has enough bring-your-own-lawn-chair seating for 4,000 and a spectacular view of Hill Country sunsets.
Known for its generous support of the military, police, and firehouse entities, as well as musicians, Iron Wolf Ranch & Distillery works with nonprofits to facilitate donations in both directions.
One of those musical talents is crowd favorite Madam Radar, an Austin rock band that plays the ranch regularly. While larger stage acts are more of a monthly event, visitors can count on live music on at least one of the stages every Saturday from 2-5 p.m.
FAN FAVORITE: The New Old Fashioned
FUN FACT: The Watters’ Siberian gray wolf, Luna, whose eyes grace the distillery’s labels and boxes, is the face/name/bring-your-pack idea behind the Iron Wolf brand.
Flanigan’s Distillery & Winery
330 N. Lampasas St. in Bertram
Housed in a lumber warehouse built in 1904, ye old Irish tavern is every bit as charming as you might expect. While not every Irish pub boasts a hand-hewn grand staircase, Flanigan’s otherwise maintains the traditional public house layout designed for guest interaction. There’s the long bar where men can share tall tales, an assortment of tables for the womenfolk to fact-check those tales, and a scattering of “snugs”—groups of sofas and comfy chairs—for a mixture of both. Of course, just as the straight drink evolved to a mixed cocktail, so, too, has the congregation at bar, table, and snug.
This modern-day atmosphere with an old-fashioned feel is the appropriate setup for the distillery’s signature drink: the Flanigan Old Fashioned. The very first whiskey cocktail, created by an American bartender in 1806, the Old Fashionedhas been recreated by Flanigan’s using a traditional-style potato spirit, which is “whiskey-fied” by aging in American oak barrels, thus harkening back to the old-style Irish whiskeys from 100 years ago. Those who prefer a vintage American Old Fashioned should try The Patriot. Whichever you choose, the sweet-tangy flavor tickles the tastebuds!
In addition to distilling bourbon/whiskey, vodka, grappa, and the only true vermouth made in Texas, Flanigan’s carries its own label of wines—red, white, and sparkling—and the customary flight of wine-tasting events. Owners Dana and Kevin Flanigan have created a space with a must-come-back appeal.
While much tasting happens at the tavern, even more goes on across the street at the Hibernian Lounge & Event Space. Built in 1850, this architectural gem is meticulously preserved and serves as the setting for a variety of hosted events, including high tea, dinner theater, and speakeasy night.
FAN FAVORITE: Old Fashioned served “water back,” so you can add exactly the amount of water you prefer
FUN FACT: The elevators at Flanigan’s are fake! They were a Hollywood addition when the tasting room was a set for the 1998 film “The Newton Boys.”
Round Mountain Distilling
1313 RR 962 East in Round Mountain
If it weren’t for their sincerely welcoming and generous nature, you might think owners Stacie and Mike Jakle were trying to keep their distillery a secret, saving all of the good stuff for friends and family.
Tucked away in the middle of a stand of live oaks and cleverly disguised as a typical 1970s ranch house on a typical Hill Country ranch, Round Mountain Distilling is easy to miss. When you’re seeking the entrance gate, look for an abundance of picnic tables and a smattering of vehicles making the most of the shade trees.
Inside the restructured ranch home, you’ll find a tasting room complete with bar, pub tables, and a comfy “living room” seating area.
What started as a man cave, where Mike and a bunch of fellow musicians got together to jam and distill spirits, has, under the direction of wife Stacie, been magically transformed into a warm space that echoes with the laughter of friends and live music from visiting acts.
The distillery is known for its original White Hat white rum, which is sort of a hybrid rum-vodka. Triple-distilled Texas molasses is rested in charred American oak barrels for six months and then carbon-filtered to remove the barrel color. This produces a smooth, clean rum. Some of each batch is set aside to create an even more unique, jalapeño-infused rum, which, in turn, is the basis of an even hotter cocktail: the Kicking Mule.
Those who favor the flavor of a traditional rum should try Mike’s 3-year-old reserve label, XXVIII, a smooth drink.
FAN FAVORITE: Pedernales Pain Killer
FUN FACT: Texas was the XXVIII (28th) state to join the Union, so grab a glass of XXVIII rum and toast with your host to the Lone Star State.
War Trail Spirits
122 E. Main St. in Llano
With bourbon, timing is everything. You have to know when to let it age and when to open it up and pour. War Trail Spirits landed in Llano at just the right time, filling the footprint and glasses left empty by Llano Craft Distillery.
Into those glasses, owners Laurie and Bernie Quandt pour their heart and soul as well as a classic menuof bourbon and whiskey—and subsequent harmonious cocktail concoctions—created from 100-percent Texas ingredients.
Their ultra-smooth Broken Halo bourbon boasts flavors of candied orange peel, vanilla, caramel, and just a hint of black pepper, and is the base of their signature cocktail, the Smoked Manhattan. Their Country Road whiskey is the key ingredient of their cocktail menu.
Those lamenting the loss of Llano Craft Distillery vodka and gin will be relieved and delighted to learn that War Trail Spirits carries that label and serves a few of the former venue’s favorite cocktails.
Complementing the dazzling drink menu is a short list of craft pizzas and a lineup of marvelous musicians on the patio.
FAN FAVORITE: The Smoked Manhattan
FUN FACT: In an area steeped with Comanche history, War Trail Spirits takes its name from the paths once used by tribal members as they made their way north from Mexico to Palo Duro Canyon in the Texas Panhandle.
Other distilleries (and more)
- Andalusia Whiskey, 6462 U.S. 281 North in Blanco, 830-507-4359
- Ben Milam Whiskey and Milam & Green Whiskey, 208 Carlie Lane in Blanco, 830-833-3033
- Hye Cider Co., 123 Rocky Road in Hye, 830-282-0143
- Moonshine Ridge, 104 E. Pecan Drive in Johnson City, 512-789-5601
- Packsaddle Nectars (mead), 14817 Texas 29 in Buchanan Dam, 512-793-2491
- Real Ale Brewing Co., 231 San Saba Ct. off U.S. 281 in Blanco, 830-833-2534
BEHIND THE BARREL
All bourbon is whiskey, but not all whiskey is bourbon. Both have more or less the same ingredients, but, of course, the devil is in the details.
Each is created from distilled corn, wheat, rye, or barley, called a mash. However, bourbon must be at least 51 percent corn and the mash distilled to no more than 160 proof. Bourbon is then barreled at or below 125 proof and aged in a new barrel of American white oak without added flavors, colors, or other extras. Once properly aged, it has to be bottled at no less than 80 proof.
Whiskey can be distilled from the same four fermented grains but with varying percentages and specifics from mash to mash. These different whiskey blends, or “expressions,” are then stored and aged in pre-used, hand-me-down wooden barrels from various sources (usually bourbon, though wine and port barrels are also popular). Each of the barrels has a flavor history, an additional ingredient passed on to the whiskey as it ages.
The unique advantage of distilling bourbon and/or whiskey in Texas is thatthe drink “comes of age” more quickly than it would in Kentucky due to extreme weather changes in the Lone Star state.
FUN FACT: Per the U.S. government, only whiskey meeting the above criteria and made in America can be labeled bourbon—just as only bubbly wine from Champagne, France, can be called champagne.
