Balcones Pot Still Bourbon Review

By Richard Thomas

Rating: B

To help inaugurate their imported, Forsyths pot stills, Balcones has released a Pot Still Bourbon. Those gleaming, Scots-made copper pots are the centerpiece of the new Balcones distillery in Waco, Texas, but the mash bill behind the bourbon is very much in keeping with Balcones’ own style and Lone Star roots.

They went for a four-grain mash bill based on blue corn, a hallmark of their whiskeys, and added Texas-grown wheat and rye, plus malted barley. That whiskey was aged for two years in new, white oak barrels, and bottled at 92 proof (46% ABV).

The Bourbon
A pour of this light amber whiskey is quite viscous and oily, which is exactly what I would expect from a crafty, pot distilled bourbon. Why use those copper pots if you aren’t going to try and retain all that weighty stuff in the new make spirit? Swishing the glass forms glacially slow, bead-headed tears. It really is sticky stuff.

The nose has a similar character, opening on oily butterscotch and dry straw and toasty oak, with a little Granny Smith apple to round it out. This start marks the peculiar theme of this bourbon, in that it’s more like many a Speyside malt I’ve imbibed, and far from the traditional bourbon flavor profile.

A taste of Balcones Pot Still Bourbon is mellower than the scent, however, because that dry straw and toasty oak combination give the nose a pungent side. Butterscotch and vanilla are a much larger presence on the tongue than the straw and oak, and even when a dash of pepper rises on the back end the whiskey remains more sweet than spicy or dry. The finish trails off on a light sprinkle of cinnamon.

What we have here is an odd duck of a bourbon, but one with lots of character. I’m sure it will win fans among those who cherish both their bourbon and their Scottish malts, although I’m more dubious about how it will go over with the bourbon-only crowd.

The Price
Officially, this is priced at $29.99, and the highest I’ve seen it priced for is $35.