Selected by Mission Wine & Spirits Staff & Bottled Exclusively for Mission Wine & Spirits - Barrel 16602 - New European Oak - 64.2%

For the record, I hadn’t tasted one drop of Balcones whiskey in roughly four years before starting at Mission. As we all know, distilleries—especially smaller producers—can change their style, improve, alter their practices, and undertake any number of progressions over the course of a few months, let alone a few years. I don’t know that anything changed at Balcones in that time, but when we got the chance to purchase a single barrel for Mission this past November, I was absolutely floored by one particular sample: Barrel 16602 - New European Oak.

Dark as molasses, bold at 64.2% ABV, and emitting what is certainly the most potent aroma of crème brûlée I’ve nosed in any whiskey ever, I was gearing up to have my palate run-over like a Texas steer coming out of the rodeo gate. But that’s not at all what happened. Instead, all that European oak and inherent malty sweetness came together in exquisite harmony, forming one of the most decadent and hedonistic sensations of sweet nectar I’ve ever tasted in an American single malt.

Aged for a mere 44 months, you’d be hard-pressed to consider this 3+ year old single malt whisky immature. Generally, I find peated malts to be more precocious as the extra smoke often helps disguise the whisky’s more jagged edges, but there’s no smoke in this cask of Balcones. The spirit stands alone in all its glory, basked in the richness and sweet spice of all that new European oak. It’s absolutely perfect right where it is.

If it’s a been a while since you’ve last tasted Balcones single malt, I can promise you one thing: this whiskey will absolutely electrify you. I haven’t been this excited about an American whiskey in quite some time.

-David Driscoll, MIssion Sales & Marketing Manager