SrirachaSeahawk
Balcones Rumble Cask Reserve
Other Sugarcane — Texas, USA
Reviewed
November 24, 2019 (edited March 29, 2021)
The Bottle:
Fairly straightforward glass-work with a lot of good information on the label about the spirit itself. The dark color label with the gold and white text looks quite pretty against the color of the spirit, though I do wish that they would tone it down with the number of different fonts that are in use.
All-around, this is an attractive one to have on your shelf.
In the Glass:
Dark, burnished bronze.
The Nose:
Similar to its less powerful cousin (the standard Rumble), but with everything amped up to 11. This stuff is nearly 66% abv, so I highly recommend a little bit of water.
The turbinado sugar is the primary component here with lots of deep molasses notes. I don't get a lot of the honey behind the brown sugar, but the figs are definitely in there. Everything integrates nicely together into a "Toffee/Christmas Cake" kind of thing.
Taste:
This is where this spirit represents somewhat of a challenge. It's 66% abv, but it also drowns fairly easily so you have to find that really delicate balance between Lighter Fluid and Shirley Temple. I have a tendency to underdo the water, so a lot of what I'm getting has an alcohol note underneath everything. BUT, what that's propping up is really quite good. This doesn't read like a whisky, it doesn't read like a rum. It reads like its own, unique spirit.
In the taste is where you start to get some of the honey mixing in with the sugar, but everything is bundled together by dark fruit, fig & date notes. The sugar and sweetness is very quick to show up front, which then moves into holiday cakes and dried fruits. It finishes with a bittersweet note that’s really quite pleasant.
This one certainly isn't for beginners. It seems like a simple enough thing, but the delicacies really need a practiced hand and palate to get right with the water. When you hit the mark though, it rewards you for it.
"Brandy soaked, sugar coated figs" really sums this one up for me, so if that sounds good to you then you probably won't hate this.
45.0
USD
per
Bottle
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