The Whiskey Reviewer A World of Whiskey, Poured Every Weekday
Revised October 8, 2022
By Richard Thomas
Rating: B
Balcones Big Baby Bonded Whiskey
(Credit: Balcones)
Balcones made it’s reputation with their very first whiskey, Baby Blue. This was partly because although they weren’t the first operational whiskey distillery in Texas (that was Garrison Brothers), they were the first one to release a product. The other reason is their innovative approach in making that product; Baby Blue was made out of a mash of 100% Hopi blue corn. Drawing on grains outside the usual distiller’s yellow corn or red winter wheat is a widespread practice nowadays, but in 2009 it was very rare and using blue corn unheard of.
The distillery continued to work with its seminal blue corn mash during its expansion into a mid-sized distillery, equipped with Forsyths-made copper pot stills. True Blue was a 100 proof version of Baby Blue; Brimstone took the blue corn whiskey and smoked it. Now comes the latest Balcones blue corn whiskey, Big Baby.
Big Baby is a bonded whiskey, which is a huge departure from its progenitor. Baby Blue was aged in “baby” five gallon barrels, and consequently for a matter of just several months. The Bottled in Bond law requires a minimum aging period of four years, and Big Baby is, in fact, aged for five years. Such a period in 5-gallon barrels would produce a noxiously over-oaked whiskey, whether those barrels were new or used.
Instead, Big Baby follows with recent Balcones releases by aging in used tequila barrels. Exactly what source of those tequila barrels the distillery uses isn’t known, but the choices available to tequila-makers is as varied as to the Scotch industry: Patron Extra Anejo alone uses two types of French oak, Hungarian oak, used American whiskey barrels and new white oak barrels. So, the actual wood of the barrel and its size could vary greatly, with the only known constant being that it was used to make aged tequila. That said, these are all big barrels, equal to or greater in size than the 53-gallon, American Standard Barrel.
The Whiskey
A pour of Big Baby has a coppery look to it, not unlike the way rye whiskeys usually look.
I decided to conduct a little experiment with this particular tasting. I got out all the bottles of tequila in my house (there are a few), and had them open side by side with my pour of Big Baby. I compared nosings, and didn’t pick up even a hint of tequila on the nose. Combine that with my memory of what agave syrup smells like, and I didn’t think the tequila barrel aging plays that prominently in the scent of this whiskey.
But then I came back and tried again a few days later, and the tequila was there, hand-in-hand with the corn husk note I picked up originally (see below). What that underlines is just how variable one’s senses can be. I don’t know what was blocking the tequila scent the first time around–and I do try to control for that when doing an evaluation–but something was.
All that said, what I did pick up was a toffee and butterscotch sweetened current, accented by corn husk. Where the tequila did begin to sing was on the palate. There the core current became caramel and agave syrup, the corn aspect turning to a fire-roasted ear of sweet corn, one that you just can’t get the bits of husk ash off of. The finish went down ashy, earthy and spicy.
The Price
A bottle of this fetches $60.
