Up next in 10
This week, Clifton dives into the newest limited-edition release from the Lone Star State: the Garrison Brothers Sonora Bourbon, a seven-year, 108-proof expression finished in rye barrels. Crafted under the guidance of Samantha Olvera, Texas’s first female Latina distiller, Sonora is more than just a whiskey, it’s a celebration of women shaping the future of bourbon. Plus, he covers the biggest whiskey headlines of the week, including: The return of Michter’s 20-Year-Old Bourbon Little Book Infinite Edition II – a blend of Beam family legacy Call of Duty Black Ops 7 launch week Indie spotlight on Videoverse and PS5-exclusive Code Violet 00:00 - Intro & Welcome Back 01:06 - Whiskey News: 2025 Michter’s 20 Year Bourbon 03:26 - Whiskey News: Little Book Infinite Edition II 05:02 - New Whiskeys from Still Austin, Castle & Key, Old Potrero, Paul John 08:55 - Woodford Reserve x Markarian 2025 Holiday Bottle 10:08 - Video Game News: Call of Duty Black Ops 7, Videoverse, Code Violet 13:02 - Byte-Sized Review: Garrison Brothers Sonora Bourbon 22:18 - Closing & Upcoming Live Stream Guests
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0:00
Today on the Bourbon Bites Podcast
0:02
MakeJers is releasing yet another 20-year-old bourbon. Little Book is going to infinity and beyond with the Infinite Edition number two
0:10
Call of Duty Black Ops 7 is out today, but there are two other games I'm even more excited for
0:14
And I'm reviewing the new Garrison Brothers Sonora Bourbon release. Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Bourbon Bites podcast
0:34
I'm your host, Clifton, and this is the week of Thursday, November 13th, 2025
0:39
We're about halfway through the month here and getting close to our end of year top whiskeys of the year countdown
0:45
So I'm very glad to viewer and supporter of the show, Michael, from Whiskey Sensory Shenanigans
0:52
who provided a whiskey that just was recently released and could potentially be a contender in this year's ranking
1:00
But before we get into that, we do have a little bit of whiskey and video game news that I think you guys should know about
1:06
The first of which is a bottle that I probably won't ever see, but maybe some of you will
1:11
It is the Michter's 20-year-old bourbon, and it is back for 2025
1:17
This is going to be bottled at 114.2 proof and is going to arrive nationwide, according to them, in December
1:26
And they say that each release is timed by the whiskey's readiness than a fixed aging schedule
1:32
So it sounds like there is some intervals between the release of this. It's not like it comes out every December, just when they feel it's ready
1:38
Now, there's really not much information available for this bottle. Of course, 20-year-old is the minimum age statement, so that means that it's the youngest bourbon in the blend
1:49
There's a chance there could be older whiskeys blended in here as well. Now, Mictors warehouses are climate controlled, so they do have a bit more control on these older age whiskeys
1:58
I know, you know, once things start getting up there in age, you risk losing lots to Angel Share
2:02
as well as just the intense amount of oak that can make a whiskey over-oaked
2:08
But it sounds like Mictors has been able to kind of mitigate that. And from all the reviews I've seen in Mictors 20, it doesn't come across as over-oaked, which is exciting
2:16
And like I said, I would love a chance to try it, but it's one of the ones that, yeah, I never see
2:20
But if I were lucky enough to see it, it would be for an MSRP for $1,200
2:27
Way, way, way, way above my price range. But when you're comparing to other 20-year-old bourbons, a la the Pappy Van Winkle lineup, then yeah, yeah, that's a fair price
2:37
But it's something that I would rather have a, you know, Knob Creek 18, although they do have the Knob Creek 21 that just came out
2:44
And I think that's under $500, if I remember correctly. So that's definitely more in line with what I would be looking out for
2:51
I'm sure, I mean, I'm sure this is great. And I've always felt like Michter's does an amazing job
2:55
Even their standard lineup, their core lineup, really is one that I always recommend to folks
2:59
especially when they're getting started on, you know, trying with differences between like bourbon and American whiskey and rye whiskey
3:05
I just think Michter's kind of does really well in all three of those categories, particularly their rye whiskey
3:11
And yeah, it's just always been one that I recommend. So let me know if you've ever had Michter's 20 a year
3:16
They don't say how many bottles are coming out this year, but usually it's between 500 to 600 bottles every release
3:21
They say it's a nationwide release, but we know only a select few will get their hands on a bottle
3:25
Now, another new release that's also in the limited edition category, but maybe not quite as limited
3:31
Little Books The Infinite Edition number two is coming out. They say this one blends beams past, present, and future in a single bottle
3:41
So if you remember back in 2024 was when the original Little Book The Infinite came out
3:45
And this was kind of a celebration of the Beam family. So it combined whiskey that was distilled
3:49
by Booker Noh himself, as well as Fred Noh and Freddie Noh. And the whiskey was aged from 7 to
3:55
20 years old. So this is part two of that release. And this one sounds even better. They're combining
4:02
7, 10, and 22-year-old bourbons, distilled by Booker, Fred, and Freddie, like I said before
4:08
and bottling it at 120.8 proof. So we're getting a cast strength, very well aged, at least part of
4:16
it, whiskey from Jim Beam, which is super, super exciting. I'm a huge fan of Jim Beam, you know
4:21
even from their nine year age statement all the way up to the 18. Haven't had anything really
4:25
older than that. But I think this would be a release that I am going to absolutely keep my
4:30
eyes out for. It's going to be released at $200. Of course, that's just the MSRP on it. There's a
4:36
chance it might be a little bit higher. I think $200 is a very fair price for something that really
4:41
does celebrate a legacy of some of the greatest names in whiskey making, at least in modern-ish
4:47
times. Now, in addition to these 7, 10, and 22-year-old bourbons that are going into the blend
4:52
they're actually including a little bit of what was left from the Infinite One. So 30% of this
4:58
new blend is the old blend. So that's pretty exciting. So yeah, I'll keep an eye out for that
5:02
one. Now a few other new releases just to kind of read through. These are featured on Whiskey
5:07
Advocate. I always like to reference their new releases and just kind of take a quick look of
5:11
what's coming soon. I see that Still Austin is releasing their bottled in bond blue corn bourbon
5:16
at 100 proof and $80. Right now it's available only at the distillery but is planning to be
5:21
launched retail soon. It's Mash Bill's 26% blue corn, 25% white corn, 44% rye, and 5% malted
5:30
barley and it is at least six years old so that's really exciting i love what still austin is doing
5:35
with these different bottled and bond releases you know featuring different core varietals i know they
5:39
had a red corn one that was very very popular so yeah i would absolutely love a chance to try that
5:43
one i see that castle and key is coming out with a straight rye whiskey finished in extra old haitian rum cask Haitian rum that something that I feel like I don see used as a finishing cask very often
5:54
This is going to be released at 58.05% ABV and $70 MSRP
5:59
A mashup of 73% corn, 10% winter wheat, and 17% malted barley
6:05
Coming in at 7 years old, which is coincidentally 2 years older than the distillery's flagship weeded bourbon
6:11
They say that this whiskey is finished in Haitian rum cask for 18 months and is available online at castellankey.com with shipping to select states
6:21
I've never had a chance to try Castellankey's distillate themselves. I've heard mixed things, but, you know, a rye with rum cask is something that I am always interested in
6:29
I've had quite a few that do that exceedingly well, so I'm excited to see what Castellankey's take is on it
6:34
Now here's a very seasonal whiskey coming out to us from Old Potrero out of San Francisco
6:40
As a Californian, I'm excited to see new whiskey releases from out here. This one is their Christmas Spirit Whiskey
6:46
This is a 2025 release coming in at 100 proof, $140 MSRP, and it's going to be highly limited availability
6:53
but it's going to be available across seven states and online. Now what makes this Christmas spirit is it was double pot distilled in 2015 from a San Francisco Christmas spiced ale
7:06
It was then aged for nine and a half years and second filled barrels that previously held Old Potrero a straight rye whiskey
7:12
That sounds really interesting. I love a lot of beer barrel finished whiskeys
7:19
Old Potrero has been one that I've kind of been like not loving their traditional flavor profile
7:23
But again, I've only really had their malted rye. I don't really know if this is that it doesn't necessarily say it just says it was Christmas
7:30
spirit whiskey it could bring things like the nutmeg and the more of those like darker spicy
7:35
notes that you can get on some of those like Christmas and holiday ales definitely sounds
7:40
like one I would love an opportunity to try now another Christmas bottle coming out is coming to
7:46
us from Paul John they are an Indian single malt I did a stream of their stuff quite a while ago
7:51
It's probably been a couple of years now, but really great stuff coming out of India. Fun fact, India is the number one consumer of whiskey in the world, so it makes sense
8:00
that they make some great whiskey on their own. So this Christmas edition from 2025 is going to be released at 48% ABV, retail price of
8:07
$85, and it's going to be limited, but a global release of 6,254 bottles
8:13
Now they released one of these back in 2024, and like that release, it's going to be unpeated
8:18
but they say the festive twist lies in the cask finish. So after an initial five-year maturation
8:24
in bourbon cask, they actually spent three years finishing it in cream sherry casks. I have had a
8:29
Deanston, which is a Scotch, finished in cream sherry casks. That is one of my absolute favorite
8:36
bottles I have on my Scotch shelf yet. Paul John has been doing some great stuff. I had done a
8:41
tasting with one of their brand ambassadors before at a local event and most of it is peated but they
8:45
have a really wide range of flavors so I'm definitely going to keep an eye out for that one
8:50
Love a good holiday bottle that actually brings something fun other than just the label. One that
8:55
is just the label but I'm going to mention because they've reached out to me a couple times to feature
8:58
the story on the podcast which of course I'm happy to do. Woodford Reserve is coming out with a 2025
9:03
holiday bottle that's actually designed in collaboration with a fashion designer Alexandra
9:08
O'Neill who is the founder of the luxury label Markarian and what makes this release unique is
9:13
this is the first time that Woodford has collaborated with a fashion designer to create the annual holiday bottle. This label is very clearly inspired by fashion. It is a beautiful
9:22
bottle, easily spottable on the shelves. It's like a bit of like a winter green kind of color
9:27
It has this, as they describe, a delicate garland stripe of winter berries and alternating stars
9:32
against a, sorry, muted sage backdrop of winter foliage. Like I said, this is just regular Woodford
9:38
but in a really pretty bottle. Woodford always does this. They've always done like a derby bottle
9:42
that is highly sought after. So I'm not knocking them at all. I just, to me, if I'm going to seek
9:47
out a special bottle, I want it to be a unique whiskey. I don't want it just to be cosmetic
9:50
but you know, I think this is out there for someone special, especially if you have a friend
9:54
that's into fashion and may know this designer. What a fun bottle to maybe introduce them to
9:59
whiskey when they wouldn't have never considered it before. The one liter bottle of this comes in
10:03
for $49.99 MSRP and should be available nationwide. All right. Well, before we get into our bite
10:09
size review I just want to give you a couple of pieces of video game news just that I think you
10:13
should know about if you are at least remotely interested in what's going on right now. I was
10:18
looking at the new games coming out of course Call of Duty Black Ops 7 which is a huge huge franchise
10:23
I used to play it again a lot when I was a kid but not as much as an adult I'm just not really
10:27
good at first person shooters especially being disabled and you know having one hand it's a
10:32
little bit more complicated for me I can't do mouse and keyboard games but I can do controller games but not nearly as well as people online but I do love the story mode in a lot of those games
10:40
but yeah just not quite my game I haven't bought one in years but there are a couple games that
10:44
caught my eye that I wanted to share with you guys one is kind of on brand for the channel it's called
10:49
video verse and this actually came out a while back ago I'm back in 2023 for pc but it's now
10:54
having a console release and it's fun it's a very much a retro it's a it's a story-based game but
11:01
It's basically like retro chat rooms, you know, AOL messenger kind of vibes
11:06
You definitely check out the announcement trailer if you have a chance to look it up on YouTube. They call it a narrative adventure game about love and friendship in the early internet
11:14
It's coming to PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox. And I love a game with a unique art style
11:20
Whether it's nostalgic to you or not, I think it's such a well-designed game
11:24
It definitely brings you back to those early 2000s days of the internet, even before that, honestly
11:29
it very much you know two color dual tone I guess you would say but yeah check out that trailer it looks fun it definitely one that if I see go on sale I gonna pick it up By the way the Metacritic score on this is 90 which is pretty crazy for a game like this So yeah if that your thing check it out
11:45
Now, another game coming up soon that I saw is going to be exclusively for PS5
11:49
at least for now. It's called Code Violet. It is a third-person action horror game from Team
11:55
Kill Media, and it's based in the 25th century. It says a cataclysm has left Earth uninhabitable
12:01
driving humanity's survivors to Trappist-1E. Facing extinction due to sterility, the Aeon Colony
12:08
harnesses cutting-edge time travel technology to abduct women from the past to be surrogates in a
12:14
dark yet desperate bid to save mankind. So in this game you play as Violet Sinclair and she's been
12:21
torn from her timeline and she's just awakened in their bioengineering complex and it's swarming
12:27
apparently with prehistoric dinosaurs and hostile forces. Over 30 minutes of gameplay that's been
12:32
released to this game. I watched a bit of it earlier today. It looks so good. Like if you're
12:36
into games kind of like cyberpunk with that kind of you know synthetic future kind of vibe this
12:42
seems like a game that you're going to enjoy. But that one's going to be released at $50 and it's
12:46
coming out on December 11th 2025. So one month from the day I'm recording this. All right well
12:54
Of course, there are plenty more whiskeys and video games coming out, but I can't feature them all, unfortunately
12:59
I want to keep this podcast short and to the point, which is why we're going to go ahead and go into our bite-sized review
13:13
Alright, well, like I said at the top of the stream, this whiskey was sent to me by Whiskey Sensory Shenanigans
13:19
Michael, one of the incredible viewers and supporters of the channel. so huge shout out to him. Go check out his channel. He just recently started it up
13:28
Whiskey Sensory Shenanigans, over on YouTube. I just subscribed, so you should too
13:32
And this is a Garrison Brothers release that just came out. This is called their Sonora Bourbon
13:39
This is a seven-year-old 108 proof bourbon whiskey, and it's actually been quite a while
13:44
since I've had a Garrison Brothers product here on the channel, but when I do try them
13:48
I always do enjoy them quite a bit. But yeah, this is a new release. I believe it was announced back
13:53
in September. And they're saying this is a tribute to female leadership in bourbon craftsmanship
13:59
So this is a Texas straight bourbon whiskey finished in rye whiskey barrels. And the name
14:04
Sonora actually is a reference to the Caverns of Sonora, which is a crystal kingdom hidden beneath
14:10
Texas limestone. So very cool. I've never, I haven't heard of that, but I do love exploring
14:15
some caves. I've done quite a bit of that on the East Coast. So definitely, if I'm ever down there
14:20
I would love to go check that out. So they say that this release isn't just another expression
14:24
from Garrison Brothers. It represents a groundbreaking achievement for women in a
14:29
traditionally male-dominated industry. In March 2022, Garrison Brothers filled 30 53-gallon rye
14:36
whiskey barrels with four-year-old Garrison Brothers Texas straight bourbon whiskey. Three years later, the very bourbon has matured into something extraordinary
14:44
sonora with the garrison's blessing master distiller donis todd guided samantha olvera
14:50
on this project she has been a leader within the garrison brothers distilling team for the last
14:54
seven years and is also the first female latina in texas to craft bourbon from grain to glass
15:00
olvera helped manage the project alongside nancy garrison donis todd and the many talented women
15:06
at garrison brothers sonora celebrates their strength vision and collaboration well that is
15:12
very, very excited. Congratulations to Samantha Olvera. What an achievement. I want to see more
15:17
women in whiskey. I think that's something that I've always been here for. You know, as much as
15:22
we love our Fred Nose and Jimmy Russell's and all that, it's great to see diversity in this industry
15:27
And this sounds like a really fun project. I mean, bourbon finished in rye whiskey barrels. I'm
15:32
curious to see how that's going to come out. I'm excited to give it a try. By the way, $5 from
15:36
every bottle that's sold goes towards Texas Cave Management Association, which benefits the
15:42
Caverns of Sonora. The retail on this one is $160 and there's going to be 6,000 bottles of it
15:47
released. Let's go and get it poured and then give it a nose. Now as with a lot of Texas whiskey
15:54
aging in Texas is very very different. You get a lot of rich super oaky notes up front. A lot of
16:00
times they're aged much less than bourbons in other parts of the country. Although this one's
16:05
pretty well aged. Like I said it's been aged for seven summers on the bottle. Let's go ahead and
16:09
give it a nose. Oh yeah, man, it's been a minute since I've had a Texas whiskey. I love it. I mean
16:17
it's definitely, you know, people say that, you know, whiskeys have a certain funk. I think Texas
16:21
funk is the biggest of them all. To me, I can almost immediately tell when a whiskey is a Texas
16:26
whiskey, with a few exceptions. I think, you know, Iron Root and Still Austin kind of avoid that
16:32
They taste a little bit more traditional with what I expect a bourbon, at least the nose to be
16:36
But again, it's not a bad note. It's just very clearly Texas. And I think that's just that intense heat, the way it interacts with that whiskey in those barrels. It just does a lot of extracting of that oak. And that's no doubt here. But it's not like a dark oak. It's very sweet, actually. You know, the more I go into it, the more sweet, deserty notes I'm getting on this whiskey
16:57
You know, I try not to look at other people's tasting notes because I don't want to be influenced. But while doing some research on this one, I think the folks over at Breaking Bourbon actually gave a spot on nosing note
17:08
They said fresh vanilla glazed donut. And I was going to say Krispy Kreme because I've given that note on a few whiskeys before
17:14
To me, it's a very distinct yeast donut versus like a cake donut. But not just the donut itself
17:19
It definitely the glaze like a vanilla glaze on top of it I do get a little bit of the rye spice there It definitely more on the back end like I said you overwhelmed with that sweet that oak up front but a little bit at the end of the nose there a bit of a rye spice that kind of hangs around which could be from the
17:35
rye in the mash bill, or it could be from those rye finishing barrels. We don't really know
17:39
It's interesting to see how that will impact the whiskey on the palate, but on the nose
17:43
it's there, but it's not like overwhelming the palate. Like it doesn't make me think this is a
17:46
rye whiskey. All right. Well, before I spoil anything else, I'm going to close out of these
17:50
websites and give it a first impression review for you guys. So cheers. Oh yeah, man. Wow
18:00
That's really good. I will say a lot of Garrison Bros. I've had has been at cast strength. It's actually been rare that I've seen it at a lower proof like 108. Now I'm sure they do
18:07
release more lower proof releases. It's just when I try it, I'm usually trying some of their more
18:11
limited offerings. But this at 108 is really nice. It kind of tones down that Texas funk I was
18:17
harvesting earlier, which is like kind of that overwhelming oak. And to me, it even mellows it
18:23
out to a way that it's blending in with those sweet pastry notes that I got on the nose
18:28
On the palate, I want to say, you know, it's bold, but without the punch. It's pretty delicate in
18:33
terms of flavors, but there's a lot of flavors going on. I'm getting a bit of a black tea there
18:37
It doesn't give across that donut nose that I was getting. To me, this is more of a richer
18:41
more full-bodied palate. It's got a lot of spice notes and not necessarily rice spice. I'm getting
18:47
cinnamon for sure quite a bit of brown sugar or molasses the way the sweetness is expressing
18:52
itself is almost like a like a pie or something in that territory you know there's a note this is
18:57
giving me that reminds me of something from my childhood my grandparents used to make or I think
19:02
it was my grandparents I don't know we would always get in my grandparents house so I'm not sure who brought what but it was a brown sugar pie kind of like a pecan pie it was a similar
19:09
texture to oh sorry pecan pie we say pecan from South Carolina okay but it's very similar it's got
19:15
that rich kind of texture to it but it doesn't have you know the flavor is primarily brown sugar
19:21
so I'm getting like that really rich brown sugar combined with a bit of that pie crust here
19:25
and it just kind of throws me back to Thanksgiving at my family so maybe it's just because I'm in the
19:30
Thanksgiving mood you know coming up on the holidays but that's definitely the first note
19:35
that came to me on the on the palate at least but now that I'm looking for the rye finishing casks
19:40
I really I want to say that I get it the most believe it or not on the finish it does go a
19:45
little bit bright a little bit peppery right at the very end it kind of like stays really rich and
19:51
sweet and deserty like from the front of the palate to the mid palate but then as it goes
19:56
towards the finish I get a little bit of an uptick in spice less of the cinnamon and more of like a
20:00
bit of a I almost want to say anise there's like a bit of an anise or like a licorice note there
20:06
along with some black pepper that kind of lingers on the back end. And I think that might be coming
20:10
from that rye cask finish. Man, this whiskey really takes me on a journey. And I think that's
20:16
what I look for in a lot of these limited edition releases, especially at a price point like $160
20:21
You know, I'm expecting this to be a very complex bourbon and it really is. So if you're not super
20:27
familiar with a lot of other Texas whiskey, maybe that's where I would say try it before you buy it
20:32
um but if you do like texas whiskey and you know you're familiar with that really hyper oaky i
20:37
don't really describe it just like an oaky kind of bitter a little tannic front of the palate that
20:41
every texas whiskey i've had like i said other than a few exceptions has if you're not familiar
20:45
with that try it before you buy it but if you know what you're getting into this is a great buy for
20:49
the price so in terms of rating i like to rate my whiskies out of 10 that's all things considered
20:55
price availability proof nose palate finish all the fun stuff i like to wrap it up into one
21:01
score and I think this one I went into it a little hesitant because you know my experience
21:06
with Garrison Brothers has been relatively good. I like the whiskey it's just I've always felt like
21:10
it doesn't taste like it's worth the price but this one might change my mind quite a bit. This
21:15
one is really refined and it tastes like a limited edition bourbon. It is there's only 6,000 bottles
21:20
of it available. So with that being said you know with the price with the story behind it
21:25
and just with the unique finish I don't really see bourbon aged in rye barrels very often
21:30
And I'm going to have to give this one an 8 out of 10. It's really good
21:33
It's definitely one that you should keep an eye out for this holiday season if you're
21:37
looking for a limited edition whiskey to get your hands on. It's not going to be hopefully too hard to find
21:42
I mean, 6,000 bottles is a relatively small amount of them available
21:46
But I do see Garrison Brothers here and there, at least here in Southern California. And I think this is a great bottle to share with friends, especially people that may not
21:54
be into high-proof cast-strength whiskey. they may really appreciate those more nuanced notes that I'm getting in this. So big shout out
22:01
to the folks over at Garrison Brothers. You know, their master distiller, Donis Todd, Samantha Olvera, who else? There was another name, Nancy Garrison. Yeah, huge shout out to the whole
22:10
team there. You really made a really special whiskey and I would love a chance to try it
22:14
again in the future. So thank you, Michael, for sending the sample. I really enjoyed it. If you
22:18
guys ever have something that you want me to try, please feel free to reach out. I'm happy to accept
22:22
samples to review here on the podcast or on a live stream. Love trying the bottles that you guys are
22:27
enjoying and hopefully you love hearing about my thoughts on them. So thank you all so much for
22:32
listening. I have a lot of fun live streams coming up on YouTube this week and into the next few
22:36
weeks. Make sure to subscribe over there, youtube.com slash bourbon bites. Tonight I'm having
22:41
Nelson Greenbrier Distillery on the channel as well as some fun guests coming up later this month
22:46
and into December. So should be a good time. Make sure to subscribe, hit the bell button to be
22:50
notified every time I go live. But until next time, this has been the Bourbon Bites podcast
22:54
a whiskey podcast with a gaming twist. Cheers, and I'll talk to you guys next episode
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