The hazmat whiskey trend shows no signs of slowing down—on the contrary, it seems that even more of these high-proof flamethrowers are being released these days. The latest comes from Texas distillery Garrison Brothers, which just announced the 2026 release of its annual Cowboy Bourbon, and this time it clocks in at a rip-roaring 141 proof.
Garrison Brothers is located in Hye, Texas, which is about an hour outside of Austin. It was founded in 2006 and released its first bourbon four years later, making it the oldest legal whiskey distillery in the state. The distillery is known for making a very assertive style of bourbon which is very different from what you will find coming out of Kentucky. That’s because of the climate in which the whiskey is aged—the intense Texas dry heat gives the bourbon a pronounced oak presence and a deep, dark color. In addition to that, the distillery uses a range of different barrel sizes to mature its whiskey, so the smaller casks accelerate the aging process by giving the whiskey more surface area to interact with.
The distillery makes one thing and one thing only—bourbon, and specifically wheated bourbon that uses wheat as the secondary flavoring grain instead of rye, the same style that brands like Maker’s Mark and Pappy Van Winkle produce. And sometimes that bourbon reaches hazmat levels, which is often the case with the annual Cowboy Bourbon release. The 2026 expression is the twelfth to date, aged for a minimum of eight years and bottled uncut and unfiltered by master distiller Donnis Todd and his team. This year’s release, as mentioned before, was bottled at 141 proof, which is very, very strong. Compare that to last year’s release which came in at a truly hefty 146.4 proof, the 2024 release bottled at 140.2 proof, and the 2023 release at 140.9 proof.
