PBMichiganWolverine
Balcones Private Cask Stout finished
American Single Malt — Texas , USA
Reviewed
February 7, 2021 (edited April 14, 2021)
Big, bold, rough, and pushing the boundaries. That pretty much sums up this Balcones. Balcones itself is quite big and bold. Combine that with a bold beer like a stout finish, and you can have either a freakin disaster on your hands, or a damn good experiment. This is fortunately the latter.
The best part of this is the aroma. As soon as I opened the sample vial, I got aromas wafting through the air of roasted coffee. The smell alone is a 5 star rating. Taste is roasted coffee, malt, chicory and oak. It’s a brawny belter of a dram, pulls no punches and comes at you like a freight train carrying Colombian coffee beans. Let it sit out a bit, add some water to tame the 62% ABV, and enjoy...this isn’t meant to drink quickly, but really take your time with it.
Thanks to @Richard-ModernDrinking for the generous sample. This is not available in any retail or at the distillery shop, so I’m that much more thankful to have tried it.
75.0
USD
per
Bottle
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@Richard-ModernDrinking yes, with an empty trunk to bring back a lot of those
@Richard-ModernDrinking if Belgian Tripple spends time in a barrel those could add a magnificent candied finish in top of the stout, or maybe a porter...
@PBMichiganWolverine Ditto. Road trip?
@Richard-ModernDrinking @gabericharde i’m contemplating how can I get that amazing orange muscat matured one
Thanks to a tasting last night with the Balcones team, I now understand that this was matured in new American oak and then finished in an ex-rum cask that the American Solera brewery used to age stout. Quite a story. Thanks @gabericharde for clearing that up!
@Richard-ModernDrinking im looking forward to that one as well.
@PBMichiganWolverine @cascode It was way more complicated than that: triple matured in new American oak, ex stout, and then ex-rum French oak casks. I’m hoping to get more details from Balcones next week.
@CKarmios it’s as similar to a Jameson’s Caskmate as a dolphin is to a gorilla. Nothing alike—I’ve had the Jameson’s Caskmate, thought it was much lighter in structure and flavor. This one was a flavorful brute
At 62% ABV and a Texan, I’m guessing it’ll taste nothing like Jameson’s Caskmates Stout Edition, even though I recognise some of those notes you’re writing about.
@cascode from my understanding, it was an actual beer cask. They filled a cask with stout beer, and matured this in it...not sure for how long. Balcones really stands up well against other powerful fimishes—-the previous one I tried was a tequila finish, which was just as good.
I'm fascinated - was this a beer-barrel maturation, or a beer wash? Sounds fantastic!
this sounds drool-worthy. nice notes!