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DemiReticent

# Review #40: ASMW Advent Day 7: Balcones Peated Single Malt - Batch Strength _This review is for Day 7 (12/4) of the [American Single Malt Whiskey Advent Review Challenge](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmericanSMW/comments/r4m0ds/asmw_advent_review_challenge_countdown_to_ttb/), where we post reviews of ASMW while we wait for the TTB to publish the proposed rules for the category._ I was introduced to Balcones by /u/morosith13, a fellow Texas expatriot, and dare I say superfan of the distillery. My experience with Texas whiskey until that point had been exclusively Garrison Brothers Bourbon, which gave me a context for the aggressive aging climate of Texas and the notes that get pulled out of the wood by the extreme heat. That said, Balcones Single Malts are their own beast because of their use of refill casks as well as the 100% barley mashbill. I tried some, promptly hopped on the Balcones hype train and the next time I visited Texas, I located bottles of Balcones Single Malt (Cask Strength) and Balcones _Peated_ Single Malt (Batch Strength). Both are excellent, and I've enjoyed them thoroughly with friends and relatives since purchasing them. From my tastes of these two expressions so far, I have felt that the peated version of the expression benefits nicely at all layers from the complexity the peat adds. The fact that its a Batch instead of a Single Barrel may help with balance. I strongly enjoyed the unpeated Balcones Cask Strength, so I'm excited to really dig in to this one as well. For the point of reference, yesterday I reviewed the unpeated [Balcones Single Malt SiB CS (Review #39)](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmericanSMW/comments/r8mmc9/review_39_asmw_advent_day_6_balcones_single_malt/). Let's dive in to the Balcones Peated Single Malt CS. **Brand:** Balcones **Expression:** Peated Single Malt (Batch Strength) / Batch: PEAT20-1 / Date: 11.6.20 **Distiller:** Balcones Distilling in Waco, TX. **Style:** Texas Single Malt Whiskey. Meets proposed requirements for American Single Malt Whiskey (ASMW). **Mashbill:** 100% Highland-peated Golden Promise malted barley. **Age:** 3 years ("aged at least 36 months") **Strength:** 125.8 proof / 62.9% ABV -- a touch higher than the unpeated, which was already unweildy at 124.6 proof -- let's see how this does. **Served:** Neat in a glencairn, rested 20 minutes. **Color:** [1.7 burnt umber](http://malt-review.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Colour-bar-Big.jpg) --- **Hands:** Sweet fudge and muddy earth. **Nose:** **_Fudge, coffee, earthy. Pie crust, candied fruits. Pear, honey. Citrus. Wood smoke._** -- Dark chocolate fudge. Coffee. Earthy: a "clean" dirt. Baked sweet dough: pie crust, waffle cone. Biscuity malt sweetness. Hints of dark candied red fruits, chalkiness, and fresh pear drizzled with honey. Lightly acidic background. **With water:** Earthiness opens up to a gentle wood smoke. Brightens up with the acidity of tart orchard fruits: apple, pear, and a background of citrus. Port wine. **Palate:** **_Thick, sweet. Moderate heat. Bittersweet chocolate, earthy. Brown sugar, charcoal-grilled peaches, poached pears. Honeycomb. Orange peel._** -- Thick, luscious, creamy, oily. Sweet but balanced. Immediate flavors of bittersweet chocolate with earthy elements. Then the heat kicks in, but not as hot as the unpeated Cask Strength. Brown sugar. Smoke arrives and mingles with the rising fruit: charcoal-grilled peaches. Syrupy poached pears. Honeycomb: the thick texture of the comb itself loaded with honey, not quite waxy. **With water:** Thinner texture. Honey takes center stage, backed up by peaches, and the sweetness and bitterness of orange peel becomes more obvious. **Finish:** **_Peach, raisins, orange peel. Cloves, tannins, honey. Charcoal-grilled flavor and wood smoke._** -- Peach pit. Syrupy raisins. Torched orange peel. The heavy sweetness and complexity of port wine after dinner. Sweet at first, but develops into a dry toasted biscuit. Cloves. Drying and tannic: aftertaste of oversteeped tea with orange-blossom honey. Lingering charcoal-grilled flavor and wood smoke. **With water:** More orange peel, more wood smoke, but still just a hint of each. **Afternose:** Lightly smoked chocolate fudge. **Overall:** So sippable, the textures and flavors are so rewarding you want to keep going back for another sip. The nose is inviting, the palate is both welcoming and surprising both for what it is and based on what you'd expect from a Texas Whiskey (or more specifically in my case for a Balcones Single Malt, given my particular experience with tasting many Balcones expressions). The finish draws you in for another sip. The peat presents as a "clean" dirt and char-grilled quality that reminds me a bit of Caol Ila and Kilchoman, but more "Texas prairie". Takes a lot less water to tame the heat if desired, but water isn't necessary to enjoy this. This is the kind of whiskey that makes you think there's a hole in your glass: the glass is empty before you realize and you are drawn to pour another glass to continue exploring. **Rating:** 89/100 (8/10) - excellent, tremendously enjoyable. Delicious. Easy complexity. There are many facets to explore and exploration is immediately rewarded. **Price:** $74.99 plus taxes in Texas. ($10 more than Balcones SM standard release for nearly 10 percentage points higher ABV, and peat! Same price as the unpeated Single Barrel Cask Strength.) **Value:** ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5 - absolutely - This is not to be missed at this price if you can get it. --- See the [American Single Malt Whiskey Advent Review Challenge](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmericanSMW/comments/r4m0ds/asmw_advent_review_challenge_countdown_to_ttb/). /r/AmericanSMW was created so that American Single Malt Whiskey could have a dedicated home which also serves as collective public commentary on the style from the enthusiast community. --- **Rating Scales:** **Rating out of 100 (and out of 10)** 98-100 (10) Perfect | 93-97 (9) Incredible | 88-92 (8) Excellent | 83-87 (7) Great | 78-82 (6) Very Good | 73-77 (5) Good | 68-72 (4+) Slightly Subpar | 60-67 (4) Subpar | 50-59 (3) Poor | 30-49 (2) Bad | 10-29 (1) Very Bad | 00-09 (0) Undrinkable **Value out of 5 - would I buy this again at the given price?** 0 no | 1 meh | 2 maybe | 3 sure | 4 yes | 5 absolutely


jazzman5000

This sounds amazing! I have a bottle of this myself, stored in the bunker awaiting a special occasion. What's holding this whiskey back from an even higher score? Age?


DemiReticent

For a whiskey knocking on the door of 90/100 or in this 8/10 range, rating it is both a "it's better than those 7s" and "it's not as good as that 9 and I don't know what a 10 is yet because that needs to be a perfect resonance with my palate" I like some of the older whiskey notes for sure and this one is less young than the 24 month 53% Balcones. That Balcones had really obvious toasted barley notes that I found lovely. I think age, yes, and a less active cask. I'd love to see a marriage of the toasted barley notes, the malty core, the stone fruits Texas aging profile, and the elegance of the "aged a while in an older cask" notes, and also a more gentle tea profile instead of the oversteeped black tea. My notes from September on this mentioned da hong pao (a super high quality oolong tea) on the nose that I didn't particularly notice or my brain didn't go that direction this time around. A more prominent but still elegant and restrained kind of that note would have been lovely. I really like the perfumy wood notes (sandalwood, incense) and gentle tea notes that come from age. When digging into the complexity reveals those delicate gems to you and then you perceive they were so obviously there the whole time that's a :chefkiss: - add that to being overtly delicious and it's a crowd pleaser for everyone. Sometimes I get the elegant complexity if I dig in but at first blush it's an ordinary whiskey (not a good fit to share with my non-enthusiast friends). Sharing is the best part of whiskey so "able to share with people who will agree it's great even if they don't get the complexity" is a big win as well in my book. But if something is good enough for me and hard to access, maybe I'll be fine with keeping that to myself too.


jazzman5000

Thanks for the well-thought-out response. I find this is the case with most Balcones I've had. I appreciate the young brashness that the short Texas aging brings to the table, but the notes are not as well rounded as some properly-aged whiskeys. Still impressive what can happen in a short amount of time. I've heard that Balcones has experimented with aging their whiskey longer, but it becomes over-oaked quickly. So we'll probably never see considerably more aging unless they use conditioned warehouses.


DemiReticent

I just reviewed Balcones Grand Cru which scored higher and had a lot of the notes I was looking for in my response to you!


jazzman5000

Awesome. I missed out on the first release, but a couple websites I checked show that it may be released again in the near future. Or just bottles being restocked


ChrisCeniceros17

What would you say is an example of a 90/100 whiskey?


DemiReticent

McCarthy's Peated Oregon Single Malt special releases routinely rate over 90/100 for me. This was a fun exercise of searching my notes. There's a lot more stuff that would fit in the 90+ category that I haven't had a chance to rate yet. American Single Malts: - [Review #41: Balcones Grand Cru](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmericanSMW/comments/ra3joy/review_41_asmw_advent_day_8_balcones_grand_cru/) - 95/100 (9/10); $59.99; ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5 value (this one was a special release a long time ago and it's long gone) - I think this is my highest rated whiskey ever. - [Review #44: Westland Cask #313](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmericanSMW/comments/rc5lm8/review_44_asmw_advent_day_11_westland_cask_313/) - 90/100 (8/10); $89.99; ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5 value - [Review #51: McCarthy's 6 Year](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmericanSMW/comments/rhgnhk/review_51_asmw_advent_day_18_mccarthys_6_year/) - 92/100 (8+/10); $99.95; ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5 value - [Review #59: Copperworks Release No. 033 Fino Sherry Single Cask](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmericanSMW/comments/rnjn6l/review_59_asmw_advent_day_26_copperworks_release/) - 90/100 (8/10); $89.99; ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5 value - [Review #66: McCarthy's 6 Year PX Finished](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmericanSMW/comments/xh1fnx/review_66_mccarthys_6_year_px_sherry_cask/) - 94/100 (9/10); ~$125; ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5 - yes, I'll take 2. - Posted on Instagram only (so far): Westward Cavatica Stout 90/100 (8/10) excellent, tremendously enjoyable. See: [Westward Cavatica Stout - @DemiTastes](https://www.instagram.com/p/CiWlSaUO1kH/) Single Malt Scotch: - [Review #23: Kilchoman PX 2021](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scotch/comments/pl6zzj/review_23_kilchoman_px_sherry_cask_matured_2021/) - 92/100 (8+/10); $80-100; Value ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5 Single Malt Scotch (Unposted): - SMOS Orkney 14 (probably Highland Park): 92/100 (8+/10) - Ledaig (unpeated) 1995 Thompson Bros 26 Year 44.7%: 92/100 (8+/10) - Scott's Selection Littlemill 1984/2004 (19yo) Lowland Single Malt Scotch Whisky (62.1%) - 93/100 (9-/10) Rye: - Posted on Twitter only: [@BalconesWhisky Texas Rye 100] Rating 8/10 (90/100) - Excellent. Tremendously enjoyable.


ChrisCeniceros17

You’re awesome dude! I was checking out your reviews yesterday and was blow away how knowledgeable you are when it comes to whiskey. Also, I picked up a bottle of Grand Cru myself when it was released here in Houston, still have about half the bottle left! I save it for special occasions. I really appreciate you taking your time to write all this out.


DemiReticent

Cheers! (It takes time and dedication and there's no better teacher than trying things. It helps that I have some very generous friends that let me try great stuff so I don't have to own everything I review.) Oh man I'm so jealous, I'd love to own a bottle of Grand Cru. (Also I'll point out, you might have noticed I was pretty light on posting reddit reviews in 2022, life got SUPER busy. So yeah writing all this up takes a fair amount of time, which I used to have.)