Whisky : Balcones 3 Year 2019 Peated Ed.

Country/Region : United States

ABV : 65.2%

Cask : Virgin American Oak (Toasted & Charred)

Age : 3 Year (Distilled 2016, Bottled 2019)

Nose :  Cinnamon, cola, and ginger.  More nuanced notes appeared in the background of creme brûlée, charred bacon, and backyard burgers.  Woody and sweet with sticky notes of molasses, almond oil, smoked tea, and macarons.  

Palate : Full bodied and thick with loads of tannic structure.  Ginger and cola while hiding in an unfinished lumber treehouse.  Sweet notes of gingersnap cookies and caramelized tapioca boba with earthy-floral hints of dried vanilla bean pods and tulip bulbs.  Notes of sandalwood, oily paints, and fresh cinnamon came near the end along with charred coconut husks.

Finish :  Lingering tannic tea and vanilla.

Score : 7

Mental Image : Backyard BBQ Sodas

Notes : My wife and I tasted this totally blind the first time and I immediately knew it was Balcones.  There was a beautiful cola-ginger note on this which I strongly associate with the distillery.  However, I did not suspect that this was a peated Balcones!  I knew they had laid down some peated stock after finally putting up a big enough order to get their Scottish malter to peat some Golden Promise barley for them, but I did not think I would ever get a chance to try some!  

This was pretty brilliant.  It took a number of my favorite Balcones notes and dropped them in the middle of a meaty backyard BBQ.  A few of the pastry notes I associate with Golden Promise came through along with an interesting smoked tea note on the nose and the palate, though it was slightly spirited and tannic for my taste.  A few drops of water did help round things out quite a bit, this would not be something I would drink straight up, it needed to be proofed down just a bit to really bring out all of the delicious cola-complexity.

Overall, a fascinating dram and one that I think would blend really well with some of the other single malt that Balcones it producing.  I cannot wait to see how this malt turns out in the future as Balcones does additional releases.