Balcones Baby Blue Corn Whisky

As the other reviewer mentioned, Texas-based Balcones uses a New Mexico-sourced blue corn for their mashbill. I enjoyed the True Blue, but what about the younger Baby Blue?

This is a well made whiskey! I think the big bourbon guys could take a lesson or two from the little guy Balcones. I'm impressed how this dram brings out the graininess of corn, without overwhelming the palate with Karo syrup sweetness (which alas, many bourbons succumb).

On to the tasting notes: the nose, oh that nose. This is the first corn whiskey I've sampled that actually smells like corn! Perhaps the NM blue corn contributes, perhaps its an early cut in the distillation, but this is a nose unlike anything else: corn ears, some salt sprinkled on top; you could be smelling a freshly opened bag of Corn Nuts! Or fritos! Junk food whiskey?

The palate is smooth & oily. Could that be olive oil + some balsamic I'm tasting? Loads of baked bread, with some more of that trace saltiness. The finish doesn't surprise: some sulfurs and feints (linen notes), and yet more cereals: baked bread, sesame bread, with just a trace of sweetness, like extra dark maple syrup.

This is good stuff. Love the corn chip nose!DrinkSpirits.com also liked it: "a warm and inviting whiskey that stands heads and shoulders above almost every young whiskey we’ve tried."

Had my dram with bbq baked bean & grilled sausage. A wonderful marriage.

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