Balcones Texas Rye 100 Proof

Nose: Floral Rye notes, Texas oak Palate:sweet, molasses, spicy pablano pepper, Finish: sweet, green pepper, cocoa I'd had this before but tasting next to other Balcones product brings out other floral & vegetal notes

Deep, rich herbal spice with a slight note of butterscotch preceding a prominent black licorice. Slight wood note on the back end

Tasting neat in a Copita glass: Nose of cocoa powder, rye spice and rich dark wood. Plate brings blood orange, wood spice, vanilla and leather. Finishes spicy with more vanilla and wood.

Where to start? Neck pour but every sip and sniff evolves. Like others, I find this is more true to Balcones than to rye whiskey and that's not bad. The youth is evident on the nose as rye new make leads the way. Interestingly it's not a burn your nose kind of fragrance and I find this on all Balcones I try. In the background is burnt sugar and bitter chocolate with a touch of green apple. The chocolate comes forward on the tongue but more like cocoa powder and a touch of ground coffee and burnt sugar. I fail to pick out any typical rye flavors here. It excels on the finish and I find that chocolate covered espresso bean that many others have noted. It lasts until I am ready for my next sip. This is my third Balcones tasting and I find more similarities with the Texas single malt than to a rye whiskey. My theory is that the aging process in the Texas heat causes the chocolate/coffee/burnt sugar notes. The heat accelerates the aging which gives those flavors as opposed to the more conventional ones. The youth comes through a bit too much for me but this is a very different whiskey and a nice change of pace.

Hot and spicy in the best ways. Not an easy sipper!

This was a sample bottle so I don't know if something was wrong, but this was undrinkable, if you ever got pine tar in your mouth paying baseball that's the closest thing I can compare it to

Chocolate, toasty, spice