Whisky : Balcones Pot Distilled Rum Cask Finished Single Malt

Country/Region : US/Texas

ABV : 55%

Cask : Virgin/Refill American Oak, Ex-Rum Cask Finish

Nose :  Opens with loads of Summer fruits and Autumn spice: sweet cherries, ripe stone fruits, black grapes, cantaloup, melon, as well as cinnamon, cardamon, and a rich oaky licorice.

Palate : A blast of flavor— grape and sour cherries— hits the palate before veering wildly toward astringent red hot candies.  Young and spirited, the dram feels half finished.  A bit of water really helps bring things together and smooths out the flavor intensity on the palate so there is not quite such a huge drop.  A few drops brought a balance between spicy cinnamon and cherry soda.

Finish : Long and lingering sour fruits and spice, maybe li hing mui or dried pickled plum.

Score : 5

Mental Image : Cinnamon Cherry Soda.

Something Better : Springbank 19 Year (similar cherry cola/li hing mui, more chocolate/mineral)

Something Better : Blackadder Red Snake #49 (similar spice/li hing mui, more tropical fruit)

Something Similar : Cragganmore 16Y SMWS 37.119 (similar cherry soda/astringency, more sugary)

Notes :  This dram had a nice nose and an incredibly long finish— but the palate was all over the place.  It was like a flavor roller coaster as the initial fruity blast dove headlong into dry oak spices.  While I love a good cask strength dram, this one really might have been better bottled at 50% or maybe even a bit lower at 46%.  I was surprised how much a few drops of water improved the overall palate and experience.  It was still relatively simple compared to other more complex Balcones, but it became more balanced and developed a silkier mouthfeel across the entire palate.  A few drops and it was no longer a roller coaster, but a smooth Sunday morning drive.

I initially tasted this blind and somehow managed to guess that it was Balcones— which had me feeling pretty good about my blind guessing in 2020.  It did not really have the cola notes I often associate with Balcones, but there was something about the oaky spices on the nose that just seemed endowed with Texas summer heat.  Overall while this was not a bad dram, it was certainly not my favorite special bottling from Baclones’ 10th Anniversary.  I felt as though it might have been better blended or vatted with something else, however, it might be a fun bottle to put in a lineup of other Ex-Rum single malts.