Balcones Cataleja

Never had something smell so promising and be near undrinkable on the end of the palate and finish. It almost physically hurts to swallow. The wet cardboard and rubber note that is commonly talked about with this one is present at the end unfortunately.

Not quite as good as their standard single malt but still quite nice. I love the funky moldy shoe nose coming from the sherry cask. This one would be a perfect 5 if it had some peat.

Nose is wholly unpleasant with burnt rubber, smoke, wet cardboard, grape must, earthy damp cellar, and root vegetables (turnip? beet?) But then something strange happened…the burnt rubber and cardboard aromas vanished to be replaced by overripe date, salted caramel, strawberry, and plum. I’ve never had anything like this happen before. Am I drunk? Ethanol is pronounced and spikey. Things improve on palate with prune juice, brown sugar, port wine, sherry, white grape, vanilla, fudge, clove, allspice, black cherry, coffee, and vegetal beet. While reading that back it sounds good, but it sounds better than it tastes. Hard to describe, but the flavors are unruly and over the place. Finish is long with creme brûlée, pencil eraser, barrel char, dark chocolate, toasted oak, leather, black pepper, mint, sulphur, and astringent iodine. Mouthfeel is full bodied, chewy, and slick. Maybe it’s me, but I just didn’t dig this whiskey; too many weird/off notes at every step. A hot mess express. At $119 that I paid for this bottle via mail order, I regret my life choices. Strange because I usually enjoy Balcones, but this one missed the mark for me big time.

Sweet

Man is this the best thing ive had from balcones. You start off with some caramel, wet oak, damp hay, brown sugar. You then get some intense fruity notes, mostly dark prune and strawberries along with walnuts. The finish had a toasted coconut, baking spice and fruity finish thats long and flavorful. Proof point is perfect as well so all an all this has jumped to the top of my fav single malts. I really need to try more from balcones

Interesting

Cateleja is a complex beast. Raisins, truffles, sulphuric dry sherry sweetness, chocolate, dates, tobacco, and mature grapes. Cons: 1. The price 2. The rotten egg flavor of sulphuric sherry, which is prominent with the bottle first opened. (A popular Youtuber review even started the review with a frown about the rotten egg note, but later admires its 'complexity'.) Pros: 1. Complex 2. Unique 3. Maybe all those dark flavors coalesce and harmonize with a little air and time opened up... I'm taking a half-glass empty approach, especially after comparing it to the instantly pleasing and wondrous Glendronach batch 12 right afterwards...

Tried neat thanks to @Looneyhead On the nares it’s sweet and fruity with notes of hmmm… sherry… cherrrry… port. Also, prunes, dates, sugar, raisin, and a touch peaty 🤔. On the palate it’s warm, cozy, earthy, & herbal with notes of dark cherries, bright red maraschino cherries, bitters, leather, Dr pepper, sage, smoke & fire baby.