Balcones Distilling 'Texas' Rum, Texas, USA

It’s a Rum from West Texas that sips like an over-proofed Whiskey.

You just have to love the charming, independent, and rebellious spirit of Texas. Balcones Distilling is based in Waco — just about half way between Dallas and Austin. Texas is a big state, and they like everything big… big steaks, big trucks, big hats, and big flavors. Balcones is still a small distillery (thank goodness!), but it is filled with big ideas. They hand-make a range of Whiskies, Rums, and mysterious fiddly Spirits, all of which are unabashedly crafted with the big flavors they love. These Spirits are top notch, and they have the awards to prove it.

Here are three words that we’d never thought we’d see strung together in a sentence: "West Texas Rum."

Balcones is well known for the heavy use of blue corn to make the award-winning Whiskies. But this is a true-blue Rum made from molasses. The kicker is that they are it in the West Texas heat in barrels made of a variety of oak and different levels of char. Seriously… there’s American white oak, Limousin oak, and European oak staves in those barrels — toasted from #2 through #5 char levels. They bottle this stuff at an over-proofed 63.9% ABV that will light up your life. And all that heavy wood influence and ABV make this a satisfying Rum that will please Rum fans AND Whiskey fans alike with its depth of flavor.