Balcones Texas Single Malt

Early 2020 bottling. This is super interesting. Classic high proof scotch that turns into fig newtons and bourbon-y caramel which finishes / mutates into bubble gum...Its really punchy, like a wooden roller coaster, upfront, but is super chill, like a steel rollercoaster, from the middle through the finish. The proof seems to be dialed in, perfectly. I'm impressed with this 2 year...TWO, Deaux, Dos anos aged malt...Great American, unique, not bourbon spirit. Value is great under 60... would chase it to 80 in comparison to some of the classic Speyside scotches you can find. 5.0 - go out and buy all of the stock you can find. 4.0 - must buy at least one bottle before you die. 3.0 - solid, must try at a bar, or mooch from a friend. 2.0 - didn't like it, you may. 1.0 - you may have the palate of my dog, and he licks his own ass.

Nose: light hint of smoke, molasses. Palate: bready, rich, oily, orange and banana Finish: long, cinnamony finish. 3rd time tasting. Did not like it the first 2 times.

Rich, bold, grilled peach, smoke. Lineage turned up to eleven. Like a crossover between bourbon and scotch.

Candy scotchy goodness. Total speyside, bit even cleaner. Wow.

So weirdly enough it smells like welch's grape juice on the nose, but then had a very woody/smoky palate with some nuttiness and fruit that ends with a good bit of spice. Big flavor, Texas style, for sure.

Please do not disrespect real single malt with this underwhelming experiement. Everything else from this distillery has been trash (especially the blue corn) so I should have known this was gonna be off as well. Had been saving cracking this bottle for a while since I thought it might be special. Boy was I wrong. Glad it's almost out of my collection. Save yourself the time and money and skip over. Not even worth me jotting down tasting and nosing notes.