Nose is wholly unpleasant with burnt rubber, smoke, wet cardboard, grape must, earthy damp cellar, and root vegetables (turnip? beet?) But then something strange happened…the burnt rubber and cardboard aromas vanished to be replaced by overripe date, salted caramel, strawberry, and plum. I’ve never had anything like this happen before. Am I drunk? Ethanol is pronounced and spikey. Things improve on palate with prune juice, brown sugar, port wine, sherry, white grape, vanilla, fudge, clove, allspice, black cherry, coffee, and vegetal beet. While reading that back it sounds good, but it sounds better than it tastes. Hard to describe, but the flavors are unruly and over the place. Finish is long with creme brûlée, pencil eraser, barrel char, dark chocolate, toasted oak, leather, black pepper, mint, sulphur, and astringent iodine. Mouthfeel is full bodied, chewy, and slick. Maybe it’s me, but I just didn’t dig this whiskey; too many weird/off notes at every step. A hot mess express. At $119 that I paid for this bottle via mail order, I regret my life choices. Strange because I usually enjoy Balcones, but this one missed the mark for me big time.