Folks, tonight is DRINK LOCAL NIGHT in Austin. Garrison Brothers Distillery will be providing tastings of our finest straight bourbon yet and we’ll have incredible bourbon filled choclates from Lecia Duke’s CHOCOLAT in Fredericksburg.

Meet your local distillers and try seasonal cocktails highlighting their spirits at the AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center Ballroom. Featuring the Official Drink of Austin Cocktail Contest presented by Tipsy Texan. Crowd Favorite Award sponsored by Google Places. Tasty appetizers by Swift’s Attic, BC Tavern, The Carillon and Lick Ice Creams! 6:30-9:30 pm. All for a very good cause. You can get tickets here: http://www.edibleaustin.com/content/buy-tickets-now

On Saturday, December 17, I will have the great pleasure of visiting with the fine folks at Joe Saglimbeni’s Fine Wine at 638 West Rhapsody in San Antonio. If you’re like me, and visiting a liquor store is as exciting as as entering a hardware store, you will LOVE Joe Saglimbeni’s. Friendly, knowledgeable staff, great customers and you’re surrounded by an amazing selection of spirits and fine wine. I’ll be there sampling Garrison Brothers Texas Straight Bourbon Whiskey from noon until 3.

Did I mention a case of Garrison Brothers Texas Straight Bourbon Whiskey makes  one hell of a Christmas gift? If you buy a bottle as a gift, I’m delighted to write a personal note on the back. Please come visit.

If you’re in Austin this Thursday evening, and are looking for something to do that’s a little out of the ordinary, please join me at the University of Texas.

The UT Campus Club is hosting a bourbon tasting and discussion at 6 p.m. at The Carillon Restaurant in the AT&T Executive Conference Center. I promise this won’t just be about Garrison Brothers Texas Straight Bourbon Whiskey.

We’ll discuss the history of bourbon whiskey in America; how fine straight bourbon is made; how we make ours at Garrison Brothers Distillery; proper techniques for nosing and tasting bourbon; and we’ll offer a comparative tasting of fine ryes and wheated bourbons.

Non-member tickets are $40 plus gratuity. Reserve your space by emailing morgan.jones@austin.utexas.edu or you can call Morgan at 512.471.8611.

Here’s a link to their poster advertising the event: http://utexas.dmplocal.com/main/index.php?action=viewsenthtml&id=2891&ids=ee19ee86488c8826f2f916f81fed4e866be93843

Once again, our fellow Texans have demonstrated why this is the greatest country in America. Less than 48 hours after soliciting bottling volunteers, we had more than 100 brave souls step across that line in the sand.

If you’ve emailed Laurel already to volunteer, please trust that she is sifting through your emails – first come, first served — as fast as she can. We needed about 30 folks to help out and received many more offers than we can possibly fill. Please trust that Laurel will get back to you soon and let you know if we were able to work you in or not.

Anyone who does not get a bottling slot this time will be moved to the front of the list for the next bottling effort in February.

Thanks so much for your willingness to help out. We couldn’t do this without you.

Want to try something no one in Texas has ever done before?

Next month, we’ll start bottling our largest bourbon release ever – more than 120 barrels of our straight bourbon will be emptied into stainless steel tanks, married with crisp, clean rainwater, proofed and entered into bottles. Each hand-numbered and signed bottle is sealed with a cork, wrapped in deerskin lace, and then dipped in hot wax. These bottles will be sold throughout the Hill Country and a few hundred cases will make it to fine liquor stores, bars and restaurants in the big cities. (We can’t say where just yet.)

We thought a few of you might like to come out to Hye and give us a hand.

A word of warning: Bottling at Garrison Brothers is not for the faint of heart! It means hard work, attention to detail, reliable, consistent help, and above all else, patience. Every finished bottle has to get past Inspector Number 1 — me. This video from our talented friends Rob Cordes and Jim Walters will give you an idea what to expect:

http://www.garrisonbros.com/video1.html

We’ll be bottling from 8 am to 5 pm, Monday thru Friday, the weeks of September 26, October 3, October 10, October 17 and October 24. We may finish early and may not need to continue that last week. 

We need 7 people each day and already have about 70 sensational volunteers already. We provide meals, beverages and plenty of bourbon throughout the day. (In fact, tradition holds that we periodically celebrate with a little “quality control” sample to keep us all motivated.)

If you’d like to take part, it will take you a couple of hours to learn the craft, so we ask those who participate to commit to two full days, 8-5. At the end of your shift, we’ll reward you with your own bottle to take home with you, along with a few other thank you gifts.

If you can handle your own travel and lodging arrangements, and commit to giving us two days hard work, please send an email to Laurel Hoekstra, our Bottling Queen, at laurel@garrisonbros.com and give her your contact information. She’ll let you know what days are still open. The deadline for contacting her is Sunday, September 12, so that we can invite others to fill any remaining slots.

Please don’t delay your decision too long though; last time we did this, we were cowboy’d up in less than 24 hours.

Hope to see you in Hye.

Don’t know about ya’ll but I’m parched. The Hill Country is drier than hell on a hot day. Ashamed TV weather reporters are hiding out like Al Quaeda terrorists. And I’m too poor to pack it all up and go to Colorado like those Escalade-driving-sons-of-bitches I keep seeing on the highway.

Fortunately, there’s a little Garrison Brothers bourbon down here to help wash away the dust. There are a few bottles of the Spring 2011 release remaining at scattered stores in San Antonio and the Hill Country. A few store owners have offered to let me come in and sign bottles for customers.

Signing Bottles

If you’re buying a bottle as a gift for someone special, please come see me and I’ll write a little personal note on the back. Here’s my schedule:

• Judy’s Liquors in Fredericksburg – Friday, July 15, 4 to 5:30
   
• Spec’s Wine and Spirits (I-35 and Loop 1604 in Live Oak/north of San Antonio) – Saturday, July 16, 2 to 5:00
• Hill Country Liquors in Blanco – Friday, July 22, 4 to 5:30

If you are a liquor store owner or manager, please don’t hesitate to call me so we can schedule one of these. Love meeting ya’ll and swapping stories.

Oh, and God, please send us some rain. We’ve been real patient. We’d sure appreciate it. I can promise I’ll be out dancing in it … wearing nothing but my boots.

If you’re headed to the Hill Country this weekend, you’re in for a treat — perhaps the greatest display of pure, unadulterated country-Americana one can witness in a lifetime.

The 50^th Annual Peach Jamboree, Parade and Rodeo is Thursday, Friday and Saturday. There’s a rodeo and dance each night. The Peach Parade meanders through town Saturday morning at 10. Locals here really know how to dress up a tractor. Garrison Brothers will have a float in the parade and we’re sponsoring the Barrel Races at the rodeo.

If this all sounds hokey as hell to you, well, it is. And we love it!

You can learn more about everything going on and buy event tickets at http://www.stonewalltexas.com/

Immediately after the parade, at 12:30, everybody is invited back to Garrison Brothers Distillery for a fried chicken lunch in our barrel barn. Come early though because we’ll probably run out of chicken, and lunch is first come, first-served.

We have Charlie Montague and his band playing off the back porch. If you’ve never seen this guy, prepare yourself. There are unsubstantiated reports that respectable young women take their bras off and throw them on stage when he plays in Luckenbach. He rocks!

If you’re going to join us for lunch, please RSVP at our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/event.php?eid=231415296872385 

The lunch is BYOB and we’ll be asking for $5 a person. We will donate 100% of the chicken dinner proceeds to The Hye Preservation Society.

We hope to see ya’ll there.

If you’re in Austin this Wednesday evening and you’re thirsty, please join me at Ten Oak at 409 Colorado from 6:30 to 8:30. We’ll be talking bourbon…as if there’s really anything else to talk about.

I’ll discuss how Garrison Brothers came to be; how we make our bourbon in Hye; nosing and tasting; and we’ll conclude with a tasting, discussion and Q&A.

If we’re lucky Orion might treat us to his bourbon bacon milkshakes, but I doubt it. Hope you can join us.

If you’ve ever paid a visit to Garrison Brothers Distillery, we hope we’ve been good hosts. We show you how we make bourbon. We tell some stories. We share our bourbon.

At the end of the visit, we always hear the same question: Why can’t I buy a bottle of your bourbon? Then we’re forced to go into a long-winded explanation of the three-tier system in Texas, antiquated liquor laws and prohibition era politics.

We’d like your help to do something about that.

Senate Bill 995, which would permit Texas craft distilleries to sell a single souvenir bottle to adult distillery visitors, passed the Texas Senate business and commerce committee with a highly favorable 7-0 vote last week. This week it reached the Senate floor and passed with a vote of 31 for and 0 against!

Now the bill has reached the House Licensing & Administrative Procedures (L&AP) Committee, where it may be stalled. But we’ve only got a week or so to get it out on the floor of the house for a vote. Otherwise, the bill dies in committee.

Here’s where we’d like your help: If you agree that this bill is good for Texas tourism, good for Texas agriculture and good for the state economy (we’ll pay taxes on every bottle we sell), please consider contacting your state representative, or the representatives who sit on this committee, and let them know how you feel about Senate Bill 995.

You can find your state representative’s contact information by Googling ”whorepresentsme” or you can contact the members of the L&AP Committee at the email addresses listed below.

If you decide to reach out to them, please be courteous. Few people today are willing to enter public service. We need them and they deserve our respect and admiration.

We appreciate your support. Please come visit again soon.

Honorable Representative Chente Quintanilla chente.quintanilla@house.state.tx.us

Honorable Representative Senfronia Thompson senfronia.thompson@house.state.tx.us

Honorable Representative Jose Menendez: jose.menendez@house.state.tx.us

Honorable Representative John Kuempel: john.kuempel@house.state.tx.us

Honorable Representative Patricia Harless: patricia.harless@house.state.tx.us

Honorable Representative Roland Gutierrez: roland.gutierrez@house.state.tx.us

Honorable Representative Charlie Geren:
charlie.geren@house.state.tx.us

Honorable Representative Joe Driver:
joe.driver@house.state.tx.us

Honorable Representative Mike Hamilton (chair): mike.hamilton@house.state.tx.us

Rumor has it that our bourbon has reached a few fine liquor stores, bars and restaurants in Austin and San Antonio. Thanks to everyone who bought a bottle. We appreciate the support. 

If you’re buying your bottle as a gift and would like a personal note on the back of the recipient’s bottle, I will be visiting these fine stores soon and would be happy to write one. Come on down. Bring your bottle. Would love to meet you.

• Twin Liquors, Dripping Springs – Thursday, March 24 at 5
• Hill Country Liquors, Blanco – Friday, March 25 at 10
• Western Beverage, Fredericksburg – Friday, March 25 at noon
• Judy’s, Fredericksburg – Friday, March 25 at 2
• Twin Liquors, Hill Country Galleria, Austin – Saturday, April 2 at 4

If this doesn’t prove we live in the greatest country in America, I don’t know what could:

Within 24 hours of the call for bottling volunteers, we filled every open slot we had available for February. Since this seems to be kind of popular, we’ll do it again later this year and will let you know dates soon.

God bless you and thank you Texas!