Balcones Rumble

The Bottle: Fairly run-of-the-mill, especially for Balcones who does some really nice labels on their whiskies. There's some nice information on it with respect to what it's made from and the batch/date information that this specific bottle came from. This bottle, for example, was part of batch R13-3, bottled on 10/9/13 by the head distiller, Chip Tate. In the Glass: Apple Juice gold. On the Nose: This is where you really get a good sense of what this stuff is made from. The honey and turbinado sugar jump straight to the forefront. There's a layer of dried fruit underpinning it, which I'm assuming comes from the figs. It really smells like just those three things, and I don't say that to be disparaging. It's actually quite an accomplishment to have the ingredients come through on the nose in such a tangible fashion. Taste: Mead, this is Rum. Rum, this is mead... This stuff tastes like the offspring that these two spirits would give you. It comes in both sweet and astringent (chalk this one up to the 47% ABV). The finish is nowhere near as sweet as you might expect and it ends with a pleasant bitter note that balances out the nose and the arrival. The actual flavor here lives completely in the development. This is where you get the honey and rum-like notes. This isn't terribly complex, but I don't think that's what the distiller was going for. This is more of an homage to what's possible when you put local Texas ingredients together using a craft process. It's always fun to see what a talented team can come up with when their trying to have some fun outside of their wheelhouse, and this doesn't disappoint.