Garrison Brothers Lady Bird Cask Strength Single Barrel Texas Straight Bourbon Whiskey Infused with Honey & Finished in Cognac Casks 135 Proof 750ml

Lady Bird Johnson was born in Karnack, Texas, in 1912. She was First Lady of the United States from 1963 to 1969, the wife of Lyndon B. Johnson, and one of the most consequential environmental advocates in American political history — the force behind the Highway Beautification Act of 1965, the woman who planted 1 million daffodils on Washington's public grounds, who worked tirelessly to restore native wildflowers to Texas roadsides, and whose personal connection to the landscape of the Texas Hill Country shaped her life's most enduring legacy. When Garrison Brothers named a bourbon after her in 2023, they chose the most specifically beautiful and the most specifically Texas-wildflower-honoring tribute available: a bourbon infused with Texas wildflower honey and finished in French Cognac XO casks, in a prairie purple wax bottle.

For three years, Lady Bird was bottled at 114 proof. For 2026, Master Distiller Donnis Todd and the Garrison Brothers team discovered something: certain barrels, specifically selected, were so exceptional that they deserved to stand on their own, undiluted, at full single barrel cask strength. "At Garrison Brothers, we let the liquid guide us," as they put it. "As we looked toward the 2026 release of Lady Bird, we discovered barrels that were so exceptional, they deserved to stand on their own. Some barrels need water. Some don't."

This is the first-ever cask strength Lady Bird. 135 proof. A single barrel. Burleson's Texas Wildflower Honey-infused wood chips rather than direct honey infusion — a production difference from the standard Lady Bird that deepens the honey character's integration with the wood. Three additional years in French Cognac XO casks after that. Breaking Bourbon reviewed the 2026 Cask Strength: "more well-balanced and integrated" than the standard Lady Bird, and — specifically — "surprisingly, the extra 20 proof points doesn't make the sip any hotter to drink versus the standard version."

Nationwide, 7,000 bottles of the standard 2026 Lady Bird were released alongside an additional limited number of cask strength single barrel bottles. This is one of the cask strength bottles.

Origins & Craftsmanship

Garrison Brothers Distillery was founded in 2005 in Hye, Texas — in the Texas Hill Country, about an hour's drive from Austin — as the first legal whiskey distillery to operate in Texas, and later the first distillery outside Kentucky to produce what they specifically designate as authentic, handcrafted, corn-to-cork bourbon whiskey. Master Distiller Donnis Todd has overseen the distillery's production program through its current generation of prestige releases, with Todd himself hand-selecting every barrel that enters the Single Barrel program.

The Lady Bird production protocol is the most specifically multi-stage and the most specifically Garrison Brothers-original production process in the Texas straight bourbon category. It begins with Small Batch bourbon aged for four years in new American white oak barrels under the relentless Texas sun — the intense Hill Country heat producing barrel-to-spirit interaction rates significantly faster than Kentucky's more moderate climate, compressing maturation character into fewer years. That four-year Small Batch is then transferred to the HoneyDew stage: honey-infused wood chips from Burleson's Texas Wildflower Honey — one of Texas' most celebrated artisan honey producers, whose bees forage the native wildflowers that Lady Bird Johnson spent her life protecting — are inserted into the barrels alongside the bourbon for 8 to 9 months. This wood-chip infusion method, used specifically for the Cask Strength version, integrates the honey character more deeply into the barrel's wood structure than the direct honey infusion used in the standard Lady Bird.

The resulting HoneyDew bourbon is then transferred into French Cognac XO casks for three additional years of maturation — the XO designation indicating the casks previously held Extra Old Cognac, whose extended brandy aging has deposited the most complex and the most specifically Cognac-character-rich compounds into the wood. Three years of contact with Cognac XO casks adds dried fruit, raisin, and the specific French oak spice that transforms the honey-inflected HoneyDew into the full Lady Bird expression. The Cask Strength Single Barrel is then bottled at natural barrel proof — uncut, unfiltered — with each barrel's proof varying between 135 and 139 proof across the single barrel program. Your bottle: 135 proof / 67.5% ABV. Hand-sealed in silver and prairie purple wax.

Critics Reviews

Breaking Bourbon (2026 Cask Strength Lady Bird review — May 7, 2026):
"Garrison Brothers Lady Bird Cask Strength Single Barrel starts off the same as the standard Lady Bird. The bourbon is created by taking a 4 year old Garrison Brothers Small Batch Bourbon and infusing it with Burleson's Texas Wildflower Honey-infused wood chips for an additional 8-9 months, which creates the distillery's HoneyDew Bourbon. This HoneyDew Bourbon is then transferred into French Cognac XO casks to mature for an additional 3 years."

"The midpoint loses a slight step, but still delivers pleasing flavors that focus on spice and grounding aged notes, while spiced syrup-soaked raisin stays as a constant. Ending on a mix of spiced honey, light molasses, and aged oak, the finish sails off on a lingering, gentle spice note. While the sip starts off stronger than it ends, there is no doubt that this is a really pleasing bourbon. Compared to this year's standard version, the sip comes across as more well-balanced and integrated. Surprisingly, the extra 20 proof points doesn't make the sip any hotter to drink versus the standard version."

Maxim (Spirit of the Week, March 2026):
"Master Distiller Todd has described the whiskey as a seamless interplay between honeyed softness and Cognac-driven complexity, and that balance defines the experience. It's a bourbon that manages to feel both indulgent and composed."

Bourbon Obsessed (2026 announcement, official notes):
"The tasting experience begins with the aroma of freshly cut grass and sweet Texas honey, layered with subtle notes of honey, dark chocolate, cherry, and fig on the palate. A harmonious marriage of honey and cognac flavors."

Donnis Todd, Master Distiller, Garrison Brothers:
"A harmonious marriage of honey and cognac flavors."

Garrison Brothers (official 2026 Lady Bird characterization):
"The tasting experience begins with the aroma of freshly cut grass and sweet Texas honey."

Tasting Profile

Nose
Deep amber — four years of Texas Hill Country American white oak, eight to nine months of honey wood chip infusion, and three years of French Cognac XO cask contact producing a color of genuine richness. The nose opens with the most immediately distinctive quality of the Lady Bird program: freshly cut grass and sweet Texas honey leading together in a combination that is genuinely unusual for bourbon — herbaceous, slightly green, and sweetened specifically by the wildflower honey character that Burleson's Texas bees produce from the native wildflowers Lady Bird Johnson spent her life protecting. The honey is more wood-integrated here than in the standard Lady Bird, the wood chip infusion method having deepened the honey's bond with the barrel structure. Dark chocolate adds rich secondary complexity. Cherry and fig follow with the most specifically Cognac XO cask-derived dried fruit character. The French Cognac XO contribution is most detectable in the dried fruit and the subtle spiced warmth that three years of XO Cognac cask contact deposits most completely.

Palate
Starts stronger than it ends — Breaking Bourbon's most accurate and the most specifically useful palate sequence description for a whiskey that opens with the full intensity of 135-proof Texas cask strength and then progressively reveals its more composed and more integrated character. The entry delivers the cask strength heat at 135 proof before the honey and Cognac character takes over — and at that point, "surprisingly, the extra 20 proof points doesn't make the sip any hotter." Spiced syrup-soaked raisin is the most consistent and the most characterful mid-palate note — the Cognac XO cask's most dramatically fruit-forward contribution. Spice and grounding aged notes build through the midpoint. Sweet honey carries through from the Burleson's wildflower infusion. The "harmonious marriage of honey and cognac flavors" that Donnis Todd specifically characterizes as the Lady Bird identity is confirmed here most completely — neither element dominating the other, both contributing to a palate that is simultaneously indulgent and composed.

Finish
Spiced honey, light molasses, and aged oak carry the close — Breaking Bourbon's most accurate finish characterization for a whiskey that sails off on a lingering, gentle spice note. The Cognac XO cask's dried fruit character persists alongside the honey and the Texas oak's warmth. Long and genuinely satisfying, the finish being considerably more gentle and more composed than the 135-proof entry suggested, confirming the Breaking Bourbon assessment that this is "a really pleasing bourbon" despite the extreme proof.

Quick Overview

Serving & Occasion

Neat with patience — allow 15 minutes of air at 135 proof for the fresh grass, honey, and dried fruit complexity to develop before the first approach. A few drops of water is the most transformative addition at this proof: Breaking Bourbon's own assessment that the 135-proof sip isn't hotter than the 114-proof standard Lady Bird suggests the Cognac XO cask integration has already done significant work, but water opens the honey and spiced raisin character most fully. Outstanding alongside dark chocolate, dried fruit and nut preparations, and Texas wildflower honey on aged hard cheese — the most specifically Lady Bird Johnson-tribute pairing imaginable.

Cocktail Suggestions

Lady Bird Old Fashioned
2 oz Garrison Brothers Lady Bird Cask Strength · 1 tsp wildflower honey syrup · 2 dashes Angostura bitters · 1 dash orange bitters · expressed orange peel. Stirred over a large ice rock. Wildflower honey syrup honors Burleson's Texas Wildflower Honey directly — the Cognac XO-derived raisin and fig character carrying through the format's most naturally complementary dimensions.

Lady Bird Sidecar
1.5 oz Garrison Brothers Lady Bird Cask Strength · ¾ oz Cointreau · ¾ oz fresh lemon juice · sugar rim. Shaken over ice, served up. The Cognac XO cask character aligns most naturally with the Sidecar's Cognac-adjacent format — the honey and Texas wildflower character adding a specifically Texas Hill Country dimension to the most Cognac-heritage cocktail available.