Origin: USA
Type: Texan Single Malt Whisky
Strength: 51.2%ABV
Ageing cask: Ex-Tequila
Chillfiltered: No
Added colouring: No
Owner: Atom Brands
Average price: € 90.00
Official website: www.thatboutiqueywhiskycompany.com
Vote: 85/100
It’s well known how the choices of the bottler That Boutique-y Whisky Company are always very peculiar, not only with regard to packaging but also to the distilleries from which their bottles come, often going in search of those less frequented by others if not completely unheard of.
After having tried their version of our Italian Puni, here they are grappling with a single cask from the American Balcones, a distillery that also stands out for its decidedly atypical production policy in its own panorama.
Three are the versions so far produced of the single malt, the first with two years of ageing in ex-Balcones casks (their Brimstone), this second (from 2019) with three years of which the last two spent in ex-Tequila and the third again two years but in ex-Sherry.
The alcohol content is always variable (and not cask strength), with the label showing a Brimstone Cowboy concert in hell, each version slightly different on a detail in the background: in this case, you see a guy grappling with an agave, a plant at the base of the tequila.
Tasting notes
The nose is extremely loaded, resin and spices kneading on a very thick and dark carpet of black cherries, dates, sultanas, red fruits, sweet liquorice, mascobado sugar, leather. Lots of sherry, on the surface, but with a vegetal vein that grows especially in length, of aloe and tobacco, with a thread of incense to close the composition. The tequila seems to have made a very light but present impression.
On the palate it’s crisp, the tamarind joins berry jam and spices (nutmeg, cinnamon) with a touch of pepper, accompanying an evocation of sacher torte with pear juice and vegetal and mineral notes, at times balsamic. Chestnut honey and toasted wood enrich the palette of flavours, very dense and oily, with a counterbalance of leather and herbal astringency.
The finish is quite long and spicy, with toasted wood, jam, leather, incense and a vegetal afflatus.
A curious and multifaceted whisky, more complex and richer than its age would suggest, perhaps a little messy and in this it certainly pays for its youth, but very interesting and enjoyable. The tequila interaction (with the former sherry?) is more a promise than a fact, a few more years between ageing would perhaps have done wonders.