2020 24 Days of Whisk(e)y - Day 8

Day 8 ... today we have another Balcones. Brimstone Whisky, 53% ABV. This is made from roasted blue corn, Texas scrub oak smoked, then pot distilled. Batch BRM20-1, "aged at least one day in oak". I've watched a few reviews of this, and it sounded interesting, and at around $50, I figured I could give it a try.

While I've not really been mentioning appearance / color because Scotch is often artificially colored - American spirits generally cannot be colored (not sure of the full rules). So while this claims "aged at least one day" ... my guess is it was in the barrel a bit longer than that.

On the nose I find BBQ meat, campfire, and a smokey popcorn ball. The taste I get smoked pepper, burnt oak, popcorn ball sweetness, all cranked up to 11. Nothing subtile here. The finish is BBQ smoke that lingers, along with pepper spice. Adding a bit of water seems to bring a bit more smoke on the nose, taste is slightly tamed, but the finish seems to have more punch. I could see drinking it either way, depending on my mood.

This has a lot going on, it reminds me of a hot salsa that is so hot you don't really enjoy it - but then you just keep going back to it over and over. I could sit all night and just nose the glass over and over. Rated 4.0 / 5.0 - BUT this is something I would need to be in the mood for.