There’s a fantastic article by Joseph V. Micallef from this past December in Forbes that asks the very loaded question: Is Balcones the best American single malt?

If you had asked me that question before coming back to retail this past November, I would have said: “No way.”

Not that Balcones hasn’t been making good whiskey for over a decade now. It’s that I’ve always associated the Waco, Texas distiller with a big, meaty style that blurs the lines between Bourbon and Scotch. If we’re going to talk apples to apples—Scotch versus American Scotch—I’d hold up a producer like Seattle’s Westland or Portland’s Westward as a more traditional comparison worthy of that title.

Having worked directly on single barrel picks with American single malt pioneers like Steve McCarthy from Clear Creek, Lance Winters & Dave Smith at St. George, and smaller producers from the midwest like Cut Spike, I feel like I’ve always had a pretty good grasp on what America had to offer in terms of the single malt market.

Yet, as Micallef points out in his article, there are now more single malt distilleries in America than Scotland! There’s probably someone out there making terrific single malt that I don’t know about, right?

Turns out there is. And it’s Balcones.

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.

What’s striking about this particular cask of Balcones (now exclusively sold at Mission) is how much more it tastes like Scottish single malt than any other American version I’ve tried, despite the more extreme Texas aging conditions and bolder flavor profile. Within the blink of an eye, I went from thinking of Balcones as more of an American individualist to—yes, perhaps—the best traditional single malt our country has to offer. There’s nothing else I’ve tasted with this much richness, this much viscosity, and this much balance acquired in less than ten years, let alone four.

But clearly I’m late to the party here. It may be that every cask of Balcones tastes as good as this one does, and I’m simply freaking out from sheer naiveté. Or this could simply be one of the most exquisite single barrels Balcones has made and we just got lucky they offered it to us. Either way, I need to taste more Balcones. Pronto.

If it’s 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 a new American single barrel in quite some time.

-David Driscoll