Whisky : Balcones 3 Year SMWS 140.1 “Cornography”

Country/Region : United States/Texas

ABV : 63.6%

Cask : Second Fill Blue Corn Whiskey Barrique

Age : 3 Years (Distilled 17 April 2015, Bottled 2020)

Nose : Sweet and fruity, loads of fresh berries, fresh cut pineapple, grape drink, honey, and a soda fountain suicide.  A note of earthy red dirt, almost manure, lingers in the background along with menthol and old rusted iron.  The wife got salt and umami behind soda and Kool-aide notes that reminded her of dark fish sauce.

Palate : A roller coaster ride of flavor as it hits different parts of the palate: honey sweetened salty Moroccan desserts, baklava, apples, strawberry cream cheese, and sarsaparilla.  The sweet fruit and salt then turns more savory with white pepper, cigar/tobacco smoke, and a medicinal kola note.  Toward the end citrusy sweet limoncello, vanilla cream soda, chocolate cake, and a lingering sweet cola note.

Finish :  Long lasting with mildly astringent spice and sweet honey.

Score : 7

Mental Image : Soda Jerk Egg-cream & Cola

Something Better : Longrow Red 13Y Malbec (similar cherry cola notes, berries, more smoke/mineral)

Something Similar : Balcones Twin Liquors Selection #2 (similar cola, more pastries, bit hotter)

Something Similar : Westland Reverie Fig. 1 (similar fruit/cola, more jam/notes, sweeter profile)

Notes : This was pretty tasty— and definitely unique.  I see why SMWS picked this cask and if I could go back in time a month or so, I would definitely buy this bottle.  The blue corn whisky cask left behind funky medicinal notes and accentuated the cola notes I get on Balcones. The transition on the palate between distinctly different flavor profiles was just wild, I can't think of another dram that shifts so radically and distinctly.  I thought it was a lot of fun to drink... the wife thought it was too much work. She didn't dislike it, but thought the nose was better than the palate.  She found the transition between sweet, salt, medicinal, and cola to be a bit too all over the place.

A really fun dram— I cannot wait to see the other casks SMWS picked up from Balcones.  This was a real treat and I hope it is just the beginning of SMWS picking up more American Single Malts to bottle.