Balcones 2023 Pilgrimage After Peat Texas Single Malt Review

Balcones 2023 Pilgrimage After Peat Texas Single Malt Review

Distilled in Texas

MSRP: $79.99

Age: 4 years 1 month

Distilled on Scottish pot stills

Non-chill filtered

Mashbill: 100% unpeated malted Golden Promise barley

Unpeated mash distilled after a run of heavily peated Highland barley from Simpson’s in Scotland.  The unpeated barley mash was run for several days.  There was a discernible peat quality from days 1-4, with each day being more subtle than the last.

The final blend utilized the following runs/days:

2 barrels of 1st day after-peated distillations (this is the day directly after the peated distillations)

2 barrels of 2nd day after-peated distillations

1 barrel of 3rd day after-peated distillations

3 barrels of 4th day after-peated distillations

Barrel size: 53 gallons

Cooperage: Independent Stave Co, used barrels

Fermentation length: 7 days

Nose 👃: Fudge. Honey. Grapefruit zest. Pear. Molasses.

Palate 👅: Grapefruit zest immediately. Ripe banana.  Canned peaches in juice. Rootbeer. Honey. Creamy & oily mouthfeel.

Finish 🏁: Peach. Grapefruit zest. Twinge of charcoal. Strong black tea. Extremely long finish. Dry.

Overall thoughts?  Holy Hell… I love this!  I love the blast of grapefruit zest on both the nose and palate.  This is definitely one of the best American single malts I’ve ever experienced.