Texas' Balcones Distilling releases Big Baby, its first bottled-in-bond corn whiskey

Waco-based Balcones Distilling this week unveiled its first foray into bottled-in-bond whisky — Big Baby, a five-year-old straight corn whisky matured in Mexican tequila casks.

To be labeled as “bottled-in-bond,” whiskies must be a product of a single distiller in a single season, aged for a minimum of four years in a federally bonded warehouse and bottled at 50% alcohol by volume. Standardized by the Feds in the late 1800s, the bottled-in-bond designation holds spirits to the highest standard, making it a rigorous process not all distillers are willing to undergo.

Big Baby is made with roasted blue corn and is milled, mashed, fermented, distilled and matured in used oak barrels in Waco. Since the inception of its initial corn whiskies, the distillery has begun using a hybridized heirloom blue corn grown in Texas.

The new spirit offers “sparkling minerality, Southwestern flavors and a citrusy, earthy finish," according to distillery tasting notes.

“We take immense pride in our exploration and conception of blue corn whisky,” Balcones Head Distiller Jared Himstedt said in a release. “Big Baby 2022 represents our own learnings and maturity, as well as our ability to appreciate whisky that is nurtured with patience and restraint. As we have matured, so have our whiskies, and we look forward to sharing Big Baby 2022 and future variations to come.”

Big Baby is the second release from the distillery in as many weeks. Last week, the distiller released Tres Hombres whiskey, a grain-to-glass collaboration with Houston-born Texas blues-rock band ZZ Top.

Big Baby is available now in Texas liquor stores.

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