Balcones Texas Blue Corn Bourbon

Nose: butterscotch, earthy, white grape Palate: popcorn, smoke, apricot

Just like it says on the bottle it's got a kick that fades quickly

On the nose Vanilla, buttery, cornbread, herbal spicy Taste a little new make funk, oakyness, Tobacco, a little peppery

Nose: Big, bold, and oaked - very oaked, to the point of being drying and bitter. There's a touch of new make funk going on here that I suspect is due to this being so young. Burnt sugar, vanilla extract, and char. Dusty corn, cigar tobacco, leather. Real maple syrup on blueberry pancakes and browned butter. Over-roasted coffee. Some wintergreen vibes buried in the background. I'd love to run this side-by-side with Stagg Jr. - I remember that being much more abrasive and throwing you around the room a bit more. Which is to say that this noses below its proof, though it's definitely still high proof. Palate: The proof and oak combine to make this a big wave of flavor and texture. Again, charred oak is leading the charge here, along with burnt corn nuts and a bit of vanilla frosting. Tannic. Reduced macerated red fruits. Buttered popcorn. Hot baking spices and black pepper out the wazoo. This is all mid and back palate. It's like something broke the EQ knobs from turning them all up too high - this is SRV at the end of a show playing Voodoo Chile (Slight Return). He'd take his hand and just roll every knob up on every amp all the way. Medium mouthfeel. Finish: You'll be shocked to know that there's just a tremendous mountain of oak, burnt caramel, and vanilla. The ethanol is cooling during retronasal olfaction and the Kentucky hug here is warming. Things slowly die down and we get all sorts of orange, chocolate, leather, sumatran cigar tobacco, black pepper... The tannins and oils here let this just hang out. Eventually some menthol and mint character gets revealed, and then everything fades out on burnt popcorn and oak. Medium long length. Other notes: This bottle is 27 months old and sits at 130 proof. And while I rarely discuss appearance, this stuff is insanely dark for only being 2 years and 3 months old. I keep coming back to this and picking it apart. This requires a lot of acclimation for me - I'm a few glasses into this bottle and while the base flavor profile is consistent, I'm finding new things moreso than I do just day-to-day. This may very well become apart of my "gotta always have" club. Highly recommend if cask strength, super-oaked whiskeys are your thing.

Shelf bottle, 128 proof aged 37 months An absolute bruiser. It smells like warm cornbread covered in about an inch of melted caramel and served on wet oak. Palate is more caramel corn than cornbread, but surprisingly creamy for the proof. Finish is long and ringing with charred sweet corn and spice mixed with vanilla notes. The proof isn't overwhelming but it cleared my sinuses. No subtlety here. If you don't like Balcones or Texas whiskey in general, you can safely skip this bottle.