Balcones Rumble Cask Reserve

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.

Balcones has become a very recommendable brand of whiskey, their expressions are very well crafted and you can find a very rounded spirit. This one, is a 62.6%abv expression, matured in a "rumble cask" which is another balcones expression, a sugary spirit. On the nose, it is amazingly sweet. Maple syrup, Burnt sugar, Brown sugar and a Thick caramel. It has an amazing aroma. A second sip gave me cherries and other Red fruits. On the palate it was sweet and grainy. Red fruits, Bbq sauce and chilli Spice. After a first sip, it gave me Maize and a lot of grain. Aftertaste was spicy and super simple. A chilli / pepper bomb and some cinnamon. Overall, this falls a little in the aftertaste, but the strength of it and the sweet and spicy flavors are well delivered. I don't know if i would buy it again, but i really remember it for a while. My score for it is a solid 84 over 100.

I definitely get the rum in Rumble. When I read fig in the description I realized I didn’t remember enough about that taste to pick it out, so I got one (a fig). It’s there! I enjoyed this much more than I expected to and I wonder how other releases will compare to this 65.6 ABV batch.

Another spectacular spirit from Balcones. It may not be a whiskey, but has all of the complexity you come to expect out of Balcones. The fig and honey are well pronounced on the nose and while high proof - it is velvety. I like to add a drop of water to take a bit of the edge off.

Mostly a balanced, strong cask strength rum but there's a sour Woody note that hits the top of my mouth every sip that I don't care for. I'm not sure what this is but it kills it for me.

Technically rum sort of. And I'm drinking the 47% version. Initial oak barrel nose, but the dark sugar and fig congress forward in further smells.