Garrison Brothers wants your money in July 2026 and will hand you the bottle in October 2028. That is the deal with the Garrison Brothers Hye Rye pre-sale, the Texas distillery’s first, and it is the most interesting thing about this release. The whisky itself, Hye Rye, is a 98 proof rye-heavy bourbon that has been released exactly once. The pre-sale window runs 27 July to 10 August 2026, the price is $99 a bottle, the limit is four per person, and every bottle has to be collected in person in Hye, Texas. Nothing ships. Payment is taken in full at checkout, and the whisky is still maturing in the barrel barns.
What the Garrison Brothers Hye Rye pre-sale actually involves
This is a pre-order, not a release. The distillery is asking buyers to fund whisky that has not finished maturing, at a fixed price, with no refunds and no option to cancel.
The terms are unusually specific. A valid government-issued photo ID matching the name on the order must be presented at pickup, and nobody else can collect on your behalf. You get 90 days from the pickup notification, and if you miss that window Garrison Brothers reserves the right to substitute an alternate product of equal or greater value. Bottles cannot be shipped, which the distillery attributes to state regulations. Hye Rye also has to be checked out on its own, without other items in the cart, to avoid holding up the rest of a shop order.
The anticipated release is October 2028, and the distillery is explicit that this date can move. If it does, buyers get an email.
Pre-sale specs
Price: $99 per bottle plus sales tax (the press release states $99.99; the pre-sale page states $99)
Limit: 4 bottles per customer
Window: 27 July to 10 August 2026, while supplies last
Pickup: October 2028, in person at the distillery in Hye, Texas
Expected ABV: 49% (98 proof), per the distillery’s own product page for the 2020 release
Mash bill: 52% corn, 37% rye, 11% malted barley Stated age: 6 years Bottle count: not disclosed Where:store.garrisonbros.com/products/hye-rye-pre-sale, live 27 July
Why a rye bourbon is unusual for this distillery
Garrison Brothers makes bourbon and only bourbon. Founded in 2006 by Dan and Nancy Garrison, it was the first legal whiskey distillery in Texas and the first outside Kentucky permitted to make bourbon from grain to bottle. Everything is Texas-grown grain, matured in the Hill Country heat, proofed with rainwater and hand-bottled at the ranch.
The house mash bill is 52% white corn, 11% barley and 37% red winter wheat. That wheat is the distillery’s signature, and it is what gives the standard range its soft, sweet character.
Hye Rye takes the same formula and swaps the wheat for organic rye. That single substitution is the whole point of the release. Wheat softens, rye sharpens, and running both through the same corn base and the same brutal Texas maturation gives you a direct comparison that very few distilleries can offer. For anyone interested in what grain actually contributes once climate and cask are held constant, this is a genuinely useful bottle.
The rye came from Justin Crownover’s Lonestar Family Farms in Sunray, in the Texas Panhandle. Master Distiller Donnis Todd started the project in 2012, aged the first test barrels for two years, and drilled into them every six months to taste the progress. He then let them run for five years in total before bottling. Of the process, Todd says it “tested us from the first grain delivery” onward.
What Hye Rye tastes like
Nobody outside the distillery has tasted the 2028 batch, and it is still in wood. What follows are the distillery’s published notes for the original 2020 bottling, which came off the same mash bill at the same strength.
Garrison Brothers Hye Rye distillery tasting notes (2020 release)
Nose: Restrained, with spiced cherry, raisin, fresh leather and orange blossom
Palate: Baking spice throughout, with molasses, caramel and vanilla underneath
Finish: Black pepper, clove, cinnamon, ginger and sorghum sweetness
Colour:Deep amber ABV: 49% | Cask: New charred American white oak | Price: $99
Read that against the standard Garrison Brothers profile and the rye is doing exactly what you would expect. The molasses and caramel are the corn and the Texas heat. The clove, cinnamon and pepper on the finish are the 37% rye pushing back against it.
Treat these as a guide rather than a promise. Six years under a Texas sun is not five, the barrel population is different, and Garrison Brothers has said publicly that batch-to-batch consistency has never been the goal.
2020 and 2028: what changes and what does not
| Hye Rye 2020 | Hye Rye 2028 (pre-sale) | |
|---|---|---|
| Release date | 5 December 2020 | October 2028 (anticipated) |
| Price | $99.99 | $99 |
| Proof | 98 (49% ABV) | Expected 98 |
| Stated age | 5 years | 6 years |
| Mash bill | 52% corn, 37% rye, 11% barley | Same |
| Bottles | 1,000 – 1,200 | Not disclosed |
| How to buy | Drive-through event at the distillery | Online pre-sale, in-person pickup |
| Purchase limit | Not stated | 4 per customer |
The numbers do not quite line up
Three things in the official material contradict each other, and they are worth knowing before you spend $400 on four bottles.
The bottle count. The 2026 press release and the pre-sale page both say the 2020 release yielded 1,000 bottles. So does the Hye Rye product page. The distillery is contradicting itself in its own archive, and the smaller number is the one being used in the marketing for a release built on scarcity.
The age. The pre-sale page states six years. The product page states five. Various retailers list seven. These describe different bottlings, but the material does not make that clear, and most of the coverage so far has repeated whichever number it found first.
Which barrels are we talking about. The press release tells the story of 14 barrels laid down in rickhouses in the summer of 2015. Barrels filled in 2015 and collected in October 2028 would be thirteen years old, not six. The pre-sale page, meanwhile, describes the whisky as still developing in the barrel barns and needing more time in the Texas heat. Those two statements cannot both describe the same liquid.
The likeliest reading is that the 2012 to 2015 narrative is the origin story of the 2020 bottling, and that the 2028 release comes from a later fill, somewhere around 2022, based on the six-year age statement. That is a reasonable thing for a distillery to do. It is also not what the press release says, and the distinction matters if you are buying on the strength of a story about specific barrels.
We have asked Garrison Brothers’ press office to confirm the bottle count and the fill date, and will update this piece when they respond.
Can you buy it outside the United States?
No. Bottles cannot be shipped under any circumstances, the purchaser has to collect in person, and photo ID matching the order is mandatory. There is no proxy, no forwarding service, no exception.
For readers in Europe, the UK, Asia or Australia, that means this pre-sale is only worth considering if you already know you will be in central Texas in late 2028 or early 2029. The 90-day collection window gives you some flexibility, but not much, and you are committing to a non-refundable purchase two years in advance of knowing your own travel plans.
The distillery is planning pickup parties and events around the release, which is a real draw if you are the kind of drinker who would build a Hill Country trip around it. Hye sits between Fredericksburg and Johnson City, about an hour west of Austin.
Is it worth $99 and a two-year wait?
For the right buyer, yes, and that buyer is fairly narrow.
If you live in Texas or visit regularly, $99 for a six-year-old, 98 proof, high-rye Texas bourbon from a distillery whose limited releases routinely sell out is a fair price. It is well below what Garrison Brothers charges for Laguna Madre at $349.99, and the 2020 Hye Rye has been hard to find at anything near retail ever since. Locking in the price now is the argument, and it is a decent one.
If you are buying to flip, be careful. The bottle count is unknown, the release date can move, and you are handing over money for two years with no interest, no refund and no guarantee the secondary market still cares in 2029.
If you are outside the US, skip it unless the Texas trip is already on your calendar. There is no mechanism to get this bottle home.
And if you simply want to taste what rye does to a Garrison Brothers mash bill, wait. Any additional availability at release will be limited, but the distillery has not said there will be none, and two years is a long time to be out of pocket for a whisky you have never tried.
The pre-sale opens 27 July at store.garrisonbros.com. If you want it, do not wait for the second week. The 2020 release went in a single afternoon.
Frequently asked questions
What is Garrison Brothers Hye Rye?
Hye Rye is a limited-release Texas straight bourbon from Garrison Brothers in Hye, Texas. It uses the distillery’s standard mash bill with organic rye replacing the usual red winter wheat, giving 52% corn, 37% rye and 11% malted barley. It was first released in December 2020 at 98 proof.
When is the Hye Rye pre-sale and when do I get the bottle?
The pre-sale runs from 27 July to 10 August 2026 on the distillery’s online shop, while supplies last. Bottles are anticipated for release in October 2028 and must be collected in person at the distillery in Hye, Texas. The release date is subject to change.
How much does Garrison Brothers Hye Rye cost?
$99 per 750ml bottle plus applicable sales tax, paid in full at the time of purchase. No further payment is due at pickup. Each customer may buy up to four bottles. The official press release lists the price as $99.99, while the pre-sale page states $99.
Can Hye Rye be shipped internationally?
No. Garrison Brothers cannot ship pre-sale bottles at all, citing state regulations. The purchaser must collect in person with government-issued photo ID matching the order, and nobody else can collect on their behalf. International buyers would need to travel to Texas within 90 days of the pickup notification.
What does Hye Rye taste like?
The distillery’s notes for the 2020 bottling describe spiced cherry, raisin, leather and orange blossom on the nose, baking spice with molasses, caramel and vanilla on the palate, and a finish of black pepper, clove, cinnamon and ginger. The 2028 batch has not been tasted publicly.
What is Garrison Brothers known for?
Founded in 2006, Garrison Brothers was the first legal whiskey distillery in Texas and the first outside Kentucky licensed to make bourbon from grain to bottle. It makes bourbon exclusively, from Texas-grown grain matured in Hill Country heat, and is known for wheated mash bills and fast, intense maturation.
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