Balcones Brimstone - Texas Scrub Oak Blue Corn Whiskey

[smokinjoe]

1st post from someone who represents Balcones? You might want to introduce yourself to provide some credentials.

Hey Wade, you haven't earned the Title, "Mr. Anal Retentive Bourbon Drinker" for nothing!!

[MacinJosh]

Nice review as usual Josh and I agree, it's my fav Balcones as well.

Thank you my friend.

[wadewood]

1st post from someone who represents Balcones? You might want to introduce yourself to provide some credentials.

If you are going to post something here and imply you represent a certain company, I think the least you can is provide some details. Maybe I'll create a new sb username and start posting in Van Winkle threads as I am Julian Van Winkle IV

Also, from my personal experience, any QC issues from a major KY distillery would result in that bottle being promptly refunded or replaced. This guy posts as Balcones and comes across as sorry you wasted that $65 on product that had QC issue; please buy again.

[StraightNoChaser]

If you are going to post something here and imply you represent a certain company, I think the least you can is provide some details. Maybe I'll create a new sb username and start posting in Van Winkle threads as I am Julian Van Winkle IV

Also, from my personal experience, any QC issues from a major KY distillery would result in that bottle being promptly refunded or replaced. This guy posts as Balcones and comes across as sorry you wasted that $65 on product that had QC issue; please buy again.

Well if you're going to call dibs on JVW for your imposter account then I call Harlan Wheatley!

[Bourbon Boiler]

I failed to introduce myself as well. I am Mr. Jim Beam. Maybe you've heard of me.

All sarcasm aside, I would hope that there's more explanation of a quality problem that was allowed to get through retail and onto the customer.

[bad_scientist]

I passed up a True Blue bottled in September, 2011 today, sold at a place that just opened like 2 weeks ago. I'm guessing this comes from a "bad" distributor, since the bottling time was so much earlier than the debut of the store? Please, oh please, Mr./Ms. mysterious unofficial Balcones person, tell me if it's okay. I'm quite excited about it and I wanted to get it, but the ominous post put me off and I bought a Very Old Scout instead.

[Ejmharris]

I passed up a True Blue bottled in September, 2011 today, sold at a place that just opened like 2 weeks ago. I'm guessing this comes from a "bad" distributor, since the bottling time was so much earlier than the debut of the store? Please, oh please, Mr./Ms. mysterious unofficial Balcones person, tell me if it's okay. I'm quite excited about it and I wanted to get it, but the ominous post put me off and I bought a Very Old Scout instead.

I am in the same boat on this one. I have been interested in trying it as love the MB Roland black dog. I really am. It interested in diving into one now that may have been from a bad distributor.

[sailor22]

The juice I was describing was a sample sent by a friend so I never actually purchased a bottle. I don't know where this particular sample came from so I can't help in identifying any mysterious bad batch..

I'm curious how a distributor could be the cause of a quality control issue. Don't they get bottles already sealed and packaged by the manufacturer?

[OTwhisky]

The juice I was describing was a sample sent by a friend so I never actually purchased a bottle. I don't know where this particular sample came from so I can't help in identifying any mysterious bad batch..

I'm curious how a distributor could be the cause of a quality control issue. Don't they get bottles already sealed and packaged by the manufacturer?

Jesus, guys. The is CHIP TATE, HEAD DISTILLER AT BALCONES. Please don't beat up on new employees that ALMOST understood what I asked them to post on the internet. This issue is that some distributors don't front their cases well and so a bottle from 2010 will end up on the shelf, rather than more recent bottlings. Why does that matter? Let me clarify:

1) There are no BAD bottles of Balcones out there.
2) What my employee was TRYING to say is that I blind taste each new blend against previous batches to make sure it is better than the last. Again, THERE ARE NO BAD BOTTLES OF BALCONES, but each batch is better than the last.
3) Given these former points, later batches of Brimstone and all of our products may be even more pleasing to your palate than earlier one. As one of the few "craft" distilleries that actually bottles whisky the actually make (and please feel free to contact me if you'd like to know who's who), we hope that our quality improves daily. JUST TO AVOID ANY MISUNDERSTANDINGS, I do not mean to suggest that our quality has ever been anything but excellent.

And just for the record, Jim Murray just rated the "bad" brimstone in question very highly (95+) and awarded it a Liquid Gold award in his 2013 Whisky Bible. But since that is not out yet, you'll just have to take my word for that. I stand by every bottle we've ever put out and I hope you enjoy them all. If you don't, I won't apologize for that, but I would encourage to continue to try our products. Most of the worlds' most prestegious tasters including Paul Pacult, Andy Dias Blue and, as previously mentioned, Jim Murray consider our products worldclass. Hopefully, that means enough to some to try our products with an open mind. I will make a point to get people to sign their posts in the future, but do let it go. If you don't want to, email me directly at chiptate@balconesdistilling.com and we can talk it out mono y mono.

THIS IS CHIP TATE, PRESIDENT AND HEAD DISTILLER FOR BALCONES

[StraightNoChaser]

SB can be a tad nitpicky at times, Chip. But welcome to the board!