Garrison Brothers Ranch Reserve Sherry Cask Bourbon Review
Oloroso vs. Pedro Ximénez — And What Happens When You Blend Them?
Distillery: Garrison Brothers Distillery
Release: Ranch Reserve Sherry Cask Series
Availability: June 27, 2026 at the Garrison Brothers Whiskey Ranch in Hye, Texas
Age: 8 Years
Price: $149.99 Each
Two Sherry Casks. Eight Years. One Very Texas Experiment.
Every distillery has a flagship bottle. Some have limited releases.
A few have unicorns that cause grown adults to set alarms, refresh web pages like they’re trying to buy concert tickets, get up insanely early and wait in line for hours. Garrison Brothers has all of those, but this new Ranch Reserve series feels a little different.
The first thing that caught my attention wasn’t the whiskey. It was the presentation.
If you’ve spent much time around Garrison Brothers releases, you know they usually show up dressed for the occasion. Cowboy Bourbon, Balmorhea, and many of their special releases wear polished silver accents, decorative stars, and enough Texas swagger to make a rodeo belt buckle feel underdressed.
The Ranch Reserve bottles go in a different direction - Instead of silver and jewels, they’re wrapped in stitched leather and practical details. These bottles aren’t dressed for Saturday night in town. They’re dressed for work.
If Cowboy Bourbon is steak and a pressed shirt, Ranch Reserve is chili and cornbread after a long day fixing fences. And honestly, I love that.
But the real story is inside the bottle.
This release started with Garrison Brothers Small Batch Bourbon. After four years of aging in Texas heat, the whiskey was transferred into sherry casks where it spent another four years maturing.
Think about that for a moment.
Most finished whiskeys spend a few months in a finishing barrel. Maybe a year if the distillery is feeling ambitious. These spent four additional years in sherry casks.
That’s less of a finish and more of a second childhood.
The result is two distinct expressions:
Ranch Reserve Oloroso Sherry Cask Bourbon
Ranch Reserve Pedro Ximénez Sherry Cask Bourbon
Both are delicious.
Both are wildly different.
And both answer an interesting question:
What happens when Texas bourbon spends nearly half its life becoming friends with sherry?
Ranch Reserve Oloroso Sherry Cask Bourbon
Proof: 110
Age: 8 Years
Price: $149.99
The Nose
The first thing that jumps out of the glass is rich, spiced tobacco.
Behind that comes toasted walnuts and pecans, followed by dried figs and dark fruit.
After a few minutes, I started finding something that reminded me of raisin bread fresh from the oven.
This is one of those noses that encourages you to keep going back for another sniff. It’s layered, rich, and incredibly inviting.
The Palate
The palate follows through beautifully.
Figs and raisins arrive first, followed by that same spiced tobacco note from the nose.
The raisin bread character continues, accompanied by dark molasses and a slight bitterness that keeps everything from becoming overly sweet.
The finish is long, warming, and carries a healthy dose of spice.
In fact, this one drinks a little hotter than I expected for 110 proof. Not unpleasantly hot. Just enough to remind you that this is still Texas bourbon underneath all that sherry influence.
My wife took a sip and immediately said:
“Fig Newtons.”
And honestly… She’s not wrong.
Conclusion
This is my favorite of the two. Not because it’s necessarily better. Just because it fits my personal drinking style.
This is a quiet evening bourbon. It’s a soft leather chair, a good book, a quality cigar. The kind of pour you enjoy after everyone else has gone to bed and the day is finally finished.
What’s fascinating is how thoroughly the Oloroso cask takes over the whiskey. The bourbon is still there, but it feels more like the supporting actor than the lead role. Normally that might bother me, but here, it doesn’t.
The result is simply too delicious.
Ranch Reserve Pedro Ximénez Sherry Cask Bourbon
Proof: 109
Age: 8 Years
Price: $149.99
The Nose
If the Oloroso walks into the room quietly, the Pedro Ximénez kicks the door open.
Dates. Figs. Raisins. Karo syrup. Sugar cookies.
This nose practically announces itself from across the room. Sweet doesn’t begin to describe it.
The Palate
The first sip is pure dessert.
Frosting. Plums. Figs. Dark fruit syrup.
More sweetness than I honestly expected. A touch of rye spice eventually emerges in the finish, but this whiskey spends most of its time unapologetically leaning into its dessert-like character. It also drinks every bit of its proof.
There’s enough heat to keep things interesting, but make no mistake: This is a sugar bomb.
And I mean that as a compliment.
Conclusion
Where the Oloroso is quiet and contemplative, the Pedro Ximénez is social.
This is the bottle I would pull out around a campfire with friends. The one that gets passed around while everyone argues about whether Texas barbecue should come with sauce... or utensils.
It’s fun. It’s loud. It’s memorable.
The only caution I would give is that it’s incredibly rich. The best comparison I can make is one of those decadent desserts at a fancy restaurant. The first bite is amazing.
The second bite is even better.
By the third bite you’re wondering if perhaps you’ve made a series of life choices that led to too much dessert.
That’s this whiskey. Absolutely delicious, but probably not an all-night sipper.
The Whiskey Nerd Section: Oloroso vs. Pedro Ximénez
If you’re newer to sherry-finished bourbon, here’s the quick explanation.
Oloroso sherry is generally dry, nutty, and rich. It tends to bring notes of walnuts, leather, tobacco, dried fruit, and spice.
Pedro Ximénez (PX) sherry is made from grapes that are dried before fermentation, concentrating their sugars. The resulting wine is intensely sweet and often delivers flavors of dates, figs, raisins, molasses, and dessert-like richness.
That’s exactly what happened here.
The Oloroso expression leans toward complexity and depth.
The PX expression leans toward sweetness and indulgence.
Both showcase just how influential four years in a sherry cask can be.
But What Happens If You Blend Them?
Naturally, I had to try it. Because if someone sends me two bottles of whiskey, my curiosity eventually becomes stronger than my self-control.
So I mixed them together.
And…
I’m not going to tell you exactly what I thought. Partly because everyone’s palate is different, partly because I think this is one of those experiments worth trying for yourself.
What I will tell you is that my wife preferred the blend over either whiskey on its own, which immediately creates a problem…
Now I have to decide whether I should enjoy these separately or start making my own Ranch Reserve house blend.
These are the kinds of difficult decisions whiskey enthusiasts are forced to endure.
Final Thoughts
Garrison Brothers could have released either of these on their own and whiskey fans would have been happy.
Instead, they gave us two completely different interpretations of what happens when Texas bourbon spends four years inside sherry casks.
The Oloroso is thoughtful, rich, and contemplative.
The Pedro Ximénez is decadent, sweet, and impossible to ignore.
Both are excellent, both feel unique, and both make me excited to see where the Ranch Reserve series goes next.
If this first release is any indication, Ranch Reserve may become one of the more interesting experimental lines coming out of Texas.
And if future releases are anywhere near this good, my wallet is already concerned.
Disclosure
Garrison Brothers provided these samples to me without expectation. I appreciate the opportunity to get an early look at these releases and share my thoughts. As always, I do my best to evaluate whiskey honestly and independently.
That said…
It is Texas whiskey, and I do admit I have a soft spot for Texas whiskey.