Balcones True Blue Cask Strength

Nose features maple, brown sugar, burnt wood, cashew, fusel alcohol, and buttered corn on the cob. Even though there is ethanol present, it is more of an aroma and less of a nose-singing fume which is…interesting. Palate matches the nose but is also substantially better; the cashew nut morphs into more of an almond supplemented by vanilla, maple drenched pancakes, molasses, charcoal, tobacco, and some pretty astringent wood notes. Flavors are rich, but lack complexity and basically hit you over the head with a hammer. Finish in insanely long with ash/smoke, dark cocoa, mesquite, leather, and a chili pepper like heat which prickles the tongue. Mouthfeel is thick, chewy, and very oily. Hmmm…while nice in small doses, there’s a roughness and harshness here that doesn’t lend itself well to a review sized pour. Unrefined, maybe? I think I paid $80 for this which is too much for what’s offered. Falls short of rebuy status.

Brown sugar, maple, molasses, raisin, shortbread nose with a hint of chocolate orange and a dusting of sawdust. Quite expansive, rich and intriguing. Palate follows through on that promise and ups the ante with oak, cinnamon, caramel, vanilla, leather and black pepper. The corn makes an appearance too, bringing sweet, dusty kernels, roasted husks and baked earth. Spicy tannic cinnamon roll finish. This was better than I expected. Balcones continues to impress. This was a Harry’s bottle from KCMO and the first 100% corn i’ve tried.

This is a single barrel finished in ex-Balcones American oak barrels, age: 56 months, 126 proof Nose- heavy ethanol, burnt sugar, shortbread and pine. But man, is it hard to get past the heavy ethanol Taste- anise, and vegetation notes. Reminds me of a young rye. Musty, unripe corn. Astringent and runs very hot and surprisingly little sweetness for a corn whiskey, let alone one thats double barreled Finish- bitter, astringent and more vegetaal notes

Rating: 19/23 N: Sweet, musty, milk chocolate, kind of tart, quite rich with corn character. There's a definite decadence to this nose. Hints of tangerine that border on malt, as well as faint sawdust. A bit odd, but quite nice hedonism, with balance and complexity as well. P: Wow, it's got maple and vanilla and the other decadent flavors. Rich, sweet corn, faint tangerine, light kettle corn, some wood tannins, notes of milk chocolate, musty notes that aren't quite sawdust. F: Astringent with wood and orange zest. Lingering must and vanilla. Hints of kettle corn remain as well. - Conclusion - This is delightful. It isn't blowing my mind or anything, but it's another great True Blue. There's more of an alcohol bite to this than the Total Wine pick (19/23) I bought has, but i also doesn't have that weird barbecue flavor. This also seems a bit sweeter! This is easily a 17, but I could see it being as high as a 19. I was leaning toward an 18 until I realized that this was sweeter than the Total Wine True Blue. Now I'm going with a 19.