Back in July last year prior to departing the shores of NZ for a month road trip of southern USA starting with Texas I thought it would be a good opportunity to bust open a sample of Balcones single malt finished off in the casks they use for their rum. First sip was like woah that's strong... then looked at the label and saw 64.2%. Few drops of water balanced it out. Interesting drop. Definitely strong rum influence in fact overpowering. It's like you are drinking cask strength rum almost. Sweet cough syrup, cola flavour which is almost artificial makes it hard to get past. Not terrible given its youth but wouldn't have another drop let alone a bottle...in fact I couldn't finish this sample I'll give it a 2.5 as despite its youth it does have a powerful impact.