Balcones True Blue Cask Strength (Total Wine & More select)

I didn't realize it until I got the bottle home, but I wound up with a Total Wine store pick. They done good! This bottle comes from barrel #21757. It's 109.6 proof, and while the label doesn't have an age statement the Total Wine sticker says 42 months, which is 3.5 years. The mash bill is 100% roasted Texas blue corn. It's dark copper in the glass. NOSE: This is the most complex nose I've ever encountered since I began drinking whisky in September of 2021. I got brown sugar, cinnamon, coffee cake, roasted sweet corn, mesquite smoke, very ripe peaches, plums, kiwis?, pomegranates?, some kind of citrusy juice, pineapple juice, creamed corn, a hickory fire, and fresh baked cornbread. I kept going back to the nose over and over, and for 15 or 20 minutes I kept getting new notes. MOUTHFEEL: Usually a single word suffices, and when one doesn't, two do the trick. But this mouthfeel is silky, creamy, buttery, and smooth. TASTE: Brown sugar, cinnamon, black pepper, butter, honey, red chile, spiced honey, and oak. FINISH: Long, beginning with oak, then going into mesquite smoke, and finally trailing slowly away with red pepper. SUMMARY: This is a glorious whisky, and is a great example of the Balcones touch. It's worth every penny I paid, and more. This juice drinks like a highly complex and perfectly aged bourbon. RATING: Mighty fine!, the highest rating on my hick scale.

I'll be updating this as I drink the bottle. Smells like wild turkey 101. The first 2 pours are hot. Second pour allows you to notice a bit more flavor. Oily soft mouth feel. Sweet at the beginning followed up by corn. It's good. I like the proof. Gives you the flexibility to add water to get the proof you want. Would be good for mixing. Followup: open this up with 4:1 bourbon to water and you can get a lot more sweet and oak. Smooth drink. Rich.