Balcones Baby Blue

Yummy

I never do this but I couldn’t help myself - the suggestion seemed so outrageous. Distiller recommends Balcones Baby Blue Corn Whisky if you seek a more floral version of The Macallan 12 Year Old Double Cask (previous tasting). Let’s see just how odd this lineup is. Balcones Baby Blue is a corn whisky made from roasted heirloom blue corn and aged a minimum of 6 months in some sort of oak. It used to be aged in new, lightly charred American oak but I don’t see that on the bottle anywhere. Bottled at 46% ABV and features a curious, faintly green-tinged gold color. (The green is readily apparent if you hold it up to a light.) Nose: Buttered corn. Loads of it. I’m tempted to double check that there aren't actually buttered corn kernels resting at the bottom of my glencairn. You can smell the corn cob, dusty husk, and all the rest. After wading through the corn maze, you are greeted with loads of vanilla and honey-drizzled bread. Palate: Holy buttered popcorn, Batman! Rich and oily mouthfeel with surprising amounts of spice and oaky astringency considering how little time this has spent in a barrel. Lightly salted, buttery nuts and spicy baked apple - I’m not sure how’d you’d prepare this kind of spicy baked apple, but it’s there. A floral and herbal quality so faint, it could just be mistaken for more corn notes. Finish: Starts sweet and a little leathery, but quickly returns to tannic oak. Somewhat reminiscent of a darkly roasted coffee but without the coffee’s overwhelming acidity. Very young and a bit harsh. Warming. Empty Glass: Buttered popcorn jelly beans. I know Distiller is just generally plotting the flavor, but I don’t see how the profile of Baby Blue is remotely close to Macallan 12 Year Old Double Cask. I won’t bother comparing and contrasting them here. In any case, while this is certainly an interesting dram to visit occasionally, I’d get bored of it quickly. It would be like ignoring all the other jelly beans and just seeking the buttered popcorn flavor. For the rest of your life. I can’t handle that much diacetyl (and it’s not because of my fears of popcorn lung disease). This is right around a 2.75 to 3.0 for me but I don’t like it as much as the other drams I’ve rated 3.0. I’m putting 2.75 but it’s more like a 2.9 from me. 2.75 ~ 74 ~ Below Average