McCormick Distilling Co, Illinois Tasting Notes

Platte Valley 3 year old Straight Corn Whiskey 40%

Tasted: Dec 2015

Soft and very corny aromas but not too oily. Lovely, crisp lime/citrus balances. Quite young but not spirity with some subtle toasted oak notes along with apricot and nuts.

The palate is crisp and fresh with a good depth of lightly oiled corn and amazingly no burnt toffee or caramel, just youngish corn. Good length with hints of toasty oak and marzipan.

Platte Valley 3 year old Straight Corn Whiskey 40%

Re- Tasted: Aug 2017

Full and corny aromas with a touch of toasted caramel and balancing citrus notes. Late hints of clotted cream and vanilla oak, along with tangerine, earth, lime and perfumed violets.

Full, oily and corny with a touch of toasted caramel. Like the nose it is pleasantly balanced by a touch of citrus and hints of almost white fruit. Long and continuing citric with hints of sweet violets and oak.

Balcones Distillery Tasting Notes

Balcones Texas Baby Blue Corn 46%

Tasted: Oct 2011

A touch spirity and oily on the nose, with what only can be described as a semblance of fat corn aromas. Why didn’t they just leave this in the cask to develop a bit of oak integration and character as at this stage in its evolution there is not much happening here!

The palate is exactly the same as the nose. Interesting maybe, but underdeveloped and the only thing the oak brings to the palate is a touch of burnt caramel. How it managed to get two gold medals at the San Francisco World Spirit competition is beyond me. Oh hang on it’s an American whisky in an American competition!

Balcones True Blue 58%

It’s a corn whisky made using atole, a roasted blue corn meal

Tasted: Jan 2013

Nose: Big, raw and intense aromas of oily marc and lightly sugared almonds. Quite hard work with a touch of burnt caramel. A drop of water does bring out a little creamy corn.

Palate: Very much like the nose. Raw and intense, with oily marc, boiled sweets, wood tannins and alcohol. Water just lightens and makes it even oilier.

Finish: Raw and rose petally.

Conclusion: Too raw and too young. It really needs some time in cask to gain a semblance of character.

Balcones True Blue 58%

It’s a corn whisky made using atole, a roasted blue corn meal.

Re-Tasted: Feb 2013

Nose: Big, raw and intense aromas of oily marc and lightly sugared almonds. Quite hard work with a touch of burnt caramel. A drop of water does bring out a little creamy corn.

Palate: Very much like the nose. Raw and intense, with oily marc, boiled sweets, wood tannins and alcohol. Water just lightens and makes it even oilier.

Finish: Raw and rose petally.

Conclusion: Too raw and too young. It really needs some time in cask to gain a semblance of character.

Balcones True Blue 100 Proof 58%

Re-Tasted: Apr 2016

Quite a mashtunny nose with dark toffee, corn meal and hints of liquorice, sweet raisin, hickory, treacle and sweet oak. A little edgy with a hint of feints.

The palate is oily and a touch feinty with burnt caramel, toasted corn meal and sweet oak. A slight balsamic note mingles with the feints on the middle with some almost rummy dried fruit and a hint of smoke. Long and intense with the oily corn meal notes lingering.

Balcones 2015 Staff Selection Single Barrel 63.7%

Tasted: Feb 2016

Nose: The oak is off the scale here! Monumental doesn’t do it justice. However the young, herbal rye cuts through like a knife. Hints of dark coffee and herbal accented wood and rye spice with a sprinkling of cocoa powder.

Palate: Eye wateringly astringent, herbal rye with a suggestion of malt and dried herb encrusted fruit. The oak is completely subdued by the alcohol and to say it’s a tad drying is an understatement.

Finish: Intense and herbal.

Conclusion: This takes no prisoners! It’s a pity I didn’t have time to dilute it.

Heaven Hill Tasting Notes

Georgia Moon Unaged  40%

‘Less than 30 days old’

The nose obviously reeks of new make spirit – rose petal marc along with popcorn and peanut butter. The palate is clean and as expected pretty straightforward. Corn meal, burnt butter and rose petals. It’s soft and slightly oily with a developing peppery note. The rawness is balanced by only being bottled at 40% and a light syrupy sweetness. An interesting insight into their new make, but it would have been better in my opinion to bottle it at cask or still strength, that way it would be the real deal.

Heaven Hill Mellow Corn 50%

Aged for 2 years./ Tasted: Apr 2010

Soft aromas of herbal, fluffy-candy floss. Almost sickly sweet with a big whiff of perfumed parma violets. Masses of sweet oak with some corn laced banana, but overall it has an odd sweetness and astringency, which isn’t particularly appealing. The palate is oily and frankly simple with corn, banana, spice and loads of sweet oak, but its ephemeral and the flavours die quickly into a sweet, dirty, sickly flatness. Disappointing.