Robert_McKay
Balcones True Blue Cask Strength (Total Wine & More select)
Corn — Texas, USA
Reviewed
April 17, 2023 (edited April 19, 2023)
I didn't realize it until I got the bottle home, but I wound up with a Total Wine store pick. They done good!
This bottle comes from barrel #21757. It's 109.6 proof, and while the label doesn't have an age statement the Total Wine sticker says 42 months, which is 3.5 years. The mash bill is 100% roasted Texas blue corn. It's dark copper in the glass.
NOSE: This is the most complex nose I've ever encountered since I began drinking whisky in September of 2021. I got brown sugar, cinnamon, coffee cake, roasted sweet corn, mesquite smoke, very ripe peaches, plums, kiwis?, pomegranates?, some kind of citrusy juice, pineapple juice, creamed corn, a hickory fire, and fresh baked cornbread. I kept going back to the nose over and over, and for 15 or 20 minutes I kept getting new notes.
MOUTHFEEL: Usually a single word suffices, and when one doesn't, two do the trick. But this mouthfeel is silky, creamy, buttery, and smooth.
TASTE: Brown sugar, cinnamon, black pepper, butter, honey, red chile, spiced honey, and oak.
FINISH: Long, beginning with oak, then going into mesquite smoke, and finally trailing slowly away with red pepper.
SUMMARY: This is a glorious whisky, and is a great example of the Balcones touch. It's worth every penny I paid, and more. This juice drinks like a highly complex and perfectly aged bourbon.
RATING: Mighty fine!, the highest rating on my hick scale.
57.99
USD
per
Bottle
Total Wine & More
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