Lone Elm Single Barrel Texas Straight Wheat Whiskey

Rating: 19/23 I've never had a wheat whiskey before. Can you believe that? And I prefer wheat vodka. There aren't many wheat whiskeys though. And I suspect that the reason for this dearth is just how little character wheat imparts. I expect this one's rating will come down to how good the barrel aging was and how empty the lack of grain flavor makes it seem, but let's find out. E: This is really dark. I'm thinking decent aging in high heat with fresh barrels. N: Bold, woody, kind of savory in a vaguely meaty way that has some barbecue char to it. Oh, that meatiness makes me worry that this might be too young. A little bit of sourness? Vomit? There's a rich mahogany in here, but that sourness is really drowning it out, unfortunately. Hints of American chocolate with way too much (comically too much) of that distinctive sour flavor. That sour vomit flavor. Uh, oh - I think that there might be a decent amount of butyric acid in this. The rest of this nose is nice, but that awful sour smell really stands out. P: Bold and woody, with some nice polished wood taking center stage. The sour flavor isn't initially too bad, but it starts to get fairly tannic. There are a lot of spices happening here as well, which adds some nice complexity. Chocolate comes out, starting dark, but then getting a bit of the butyric acid flavor. This is almost a nice, decadent palate, but that sour flavor is not enjoyable and all I'm tasting are shades of wood. Still, this is doing quite well with shades of wood, aside from that one flavor. F: Bitter, tannic, kind of spiced. Not a ton happening here. Occasional chocolate with hints of butyric acid, but who knows if that's from the whiskey or a side effect of its one off-putting flavor. - Conclusion - Doing some side-by-sides makes me think that the vomit flavor may just be a temporary artifact based on the state of my palate. My bottle of Balcones True Blue Cask Strength (19/23) is less woody, but a bit richer than this. It's funkier, but not at all as sour. On the other hand, Garrison Brothers 2021 (17/23) has more of a mineral flavor and is quite sour. It might not taste quite as much like vomit as this does, but it's actually fairly close. It's tough to compare these two. There's more minerality to Garrison Brothers Cowboy 2020 (22/23), but this is bolder and certainly woodier. There are more dimensions to the Garrison Brothers, but this is the bigger, more decadent dram. The real question here is how bad that vomit flavor is for this dram. Without it, this isn't the most complex, but it does a good job of presenting its decadent, woody profile. Coming back to this a couple days later, I initially got no butyric acid, but then a wave hit me. It receded, but there was still a lot of time with that flavor. It's not as bad as I previously thought, but that and the lack of complexity are real knocks against what is otherwise, a bold, woody, decadent, sweet dram. It definitely still tastes like sour American chocolate - but it doesn't taste like vomit anymore. I'm actually liking this a lot now. I'm now realizing that although the bold flavor really comes through, the alcohol does. Europeans who have good taste in chocolate probably are better off avoiding this, but I'm pretty OK with American chocolate, so I'm digging the decadence here. I'm thinking a 19 or 20, actually. Eh, could still be an 18. I'm not enjoying this sour flavor on the long finish. I'll give it a 19. I'd love to try another barrel of this to see if I can get it without so much butyric acid. Aside from that, this is pretty delightful. Previously, I was going to give this a 15, so that's the lowest I'd go. Thanks for this interesting sample @soonershrink !

The nose starts with a mix of rich maple syrup, figs and sweet pipe tobacco then chocolate covered espresso beans followed by diced sautéed cinnamon apples, morello cherry jam and orange blossom that transitions to black tea, and charred whole wheat toast with high ethanol burn. The taste is a medium mouthfeel starting with a mix of maple syrup, figs and flapjacks then sweet pipe tobacco smoke and a spicy mocha followed by diced sautéed cinnamon apples, morello cherry jam and orange blossom that transitions to toasted almonds, polished leather, light sawdust and mildly bitter black tea with high ethanol burn. The finish is long with chocolate covered espresso beans, toasted almonds, charred marshmallow, polished leather, mildly bitter black tea and light sawdust. This is a fantastic one that really pulls you in with a syrupy rich nose with a balance of fruits, coffee, tobacco and a light Texas funk that carries over to the palate with the addition of toasted nuts, leather and slightly tannic oak that finishes long with sweet and earthy notes that veers slightly higher on the tannic side but no where near overwhelming. I'm a big fan of Texas whiskey and this one really delivered with those bold flavors with a near perfect balance. At around $50, I wouldn't recommend buying a bottle, but instead a case as this can easily beat most of the tater bate or stupid celebrity swill at 2 to 3x the price. Thanks @soonershrink for the generous sample.

My single barrel was aged 4-5 years and comes in at 125.2 proof. For Texas whiskey, that’s pretty old. It’s a flavor bomb of cherries, cocoa, leather, vanilla, and oak. The nose reminds me of cherry jam, chocolate, and Raisin Bran cereal. The taste is ripe black cherries, vanilla extract, wheat bread, and oak with some black tea tannins. I don’t get that meaty, Texas “funk” in this like I do from Balcones and Garrison. The finish is actually sweet with more cherries. Next, I proofed this down with 10 drops of water and it got REALLY interesting. It toned down the cherries and astringent oak qualities while adding some lighter, maltier notes like honey, orange zest, and stone fruits. TBH I liked this whiskey best with some water. Edit: This makes one helluva old fashioned. I used maple syrup as my sweetener and it was delicious. Honestly, some of the best Texas whiskeys I’ve tried hasn’t been bourbons. Balcones does amazing things with malt (Lineage, Mirador), Ironroot’s best offerings are their corn whiskeys (Icarus, Hubris), and Herman Marshall’s best whiskey is their Saint Arnold Divine, a beer-based single malt. These whiskeys, and now Lone Elm, are what I would offer to someone who is looking to try some interesting Texas whiskeys.

I’ve always been curious to try this one, having heard good things of it from folks here. Unfortunately, the distribution isn’t wide spread yet. But, thanks to @soonershrink , who sent a generous sample, I was able to try it. Texas whiskey is in a category all by itself. It’s big, burly, loud, and makes its presence known. Nothing nuanced about it. If you think of other Texans, like Balcones and Garrison, they’re the same way—-very robust, making it known it grew up in the Texan heat. This is no different. In fact, Garrison Small batch probably wishes it were more like this one. At approx the same price point, I’d choose this over Garrison small batch any time of the day. What I like about these guys is that it’s full grain to glass. Made with Texas red wheat, and Texas rain water. Nose is sawdust and molasses. Dark cherries. Palette is Oak,thick vanilla and molasses. It’s young, but the Texas climate makes it act older than it is. If you like Balcones and Garrison, see if you’re in their distribution network. It’s a no-brainer buy at its price point of $45-60. Thanks again to @soonershrink for the pour!

Another Texas winner for me. This particular single barrel is 60.8% ABV. The nose is vanilla, sugary cinnamon roll, cherry, grape candy, dusty oak, and a little Texas funk. The palate is buttery, milk chocolate, dark cherry, grape soda. Some bourbony vanilla and caramel show up. Some tannic oak on the finish. This is different, but good. I'll have to run it up against some of my Texas favorites, but I definitely think it deserves a spot at the table with the big Texas whiskies. It's good - I can imagine wanting to replace this when I finish. Update: giving this a bump in score after SbS w/Larceny BP C921. This has more fruit, particularly grape soda, than the Larceny, but is a little more tannic. The Larceny comes across as more peanutty. I actually think I prefer this to the Larceny. It's also better than Weller 107.

Nose – some nice oak and then boom buffalo trace level’s of cherry but then it just keeps going, it’s cough syrup levels. There’s an odd muted kinda oak blanket coating bringing down the nose. It’s weird. OK there’s a but of fresh cut grass. Taste – It’s like port, spearmint, oak, it reminds me of that really good tasting grape cough medicine I had as a kid. What in the world. The finish is oaky but neither pleasant or not. Some leather and a touch of funk. I’m describing a really odd whisky but this is pretty cool. Has a lot of bourbon notes, it’s not “Texas funk” at all. I’d really be happy with this at 60-70, no clue the price point but under 100 and this wouldn’t be a terrible buy. I’m more like 50 if I were to get 2 bottles. Score 2.25. This is above average, unique, but not a wow bottle.