Rich malted barley | Chocolate syrup | Fire roasted peaches | Light charred oak | Canned fruit syrup | Nicely balanced mix of delectable sweet notes

Chocolate malt | Light leather | Baking chocolate | Dark cordial cherries | Rye spice | An ever present earthiness

Malted barley | Baking chocolate | Light rye spice | Light lingering heat

Tres Hombres is a unique homage by Balcones to the three members of ZZ Top. According to the company, “Tres Hombres pays homage to ZZ Top’s first top 10 chart album released in 1973 and is made using a grain-to-glass approach with three distinct grains: roasted blue corn, barley and rye, one for each band member. The expression celebrates strong Texas ties and a mutual love for whisky between the Houston-founded rock and roll band and Waco-based distillery.” First released in the fall of 2021, the company re-released Tres Hombres in spring 2022.

Ironically, Balcones Tres Hombres hits two out of three parts of the sip out of the park, but stumbles on the other. The nose is full of rich malted barley, chocolate, and fruit notes with the palate providing added spice and a nice overall earthiness grounding effect. However, while the finish is pleasing, it falls well short of the highs that the nose and palate deliver. The ending result is a whiskey that has potential to be outstanding, but settles on pretty darn good instead. If you’re a fan of Balcones Whiskey, or just whiskey focused on richer notes, Balcones Tres Hombres, with its reasonable asking price, is one you’ll definitely want to seek out.

The bottle being reviewed is from batch ZZ21-1 with a date of 10.12.21.