Big thanks to my friend and fellow Toronto whisky man of mystery Adam for letting me try this one!
I first heard about Heaven's Door whiskies from Mark Gillespie's podcast when it got announced sometime last year. It's a collaborative project produced by Angel's Envy creator Marc Bushala, the brand COO Ryan Perry and Breckenridge distiller Jordan Via using the celebrity endorsement/input of singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. I'm a very big lover of Bob Dylan as a musician myself, but you know when a celebrity endorsed product comes out that you can always imagine that it's likely not something made for those interested in trying something good and more for the collectability aspect or just the name attached to a sub-par whiskey (I'm looking at you Virginia Black!)
But while the brand, which is named after the famous song Knockin' On Heavens Door, is already dealing with some early legal troubles surrounding the name bearing too close to Heaven Hill Distillery, I now have a chance to give a mostly unbiased look at this bourbon whiskey which is made in Tennessee. However, even if it's 90 proof it does have an age statement of "nearly 7 years" which is nice although the "nearly" part makes me wonder if they mean by months or by years or by what metric. But for now I'll assume it's 6 years and a bit and give them the benefit of the doubt. The mash is apparently 70% corn to 20% rye, according to The Whiskey Wash, so let's see how if this has some merits or if it tastes like a rolling stone.
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Age: 6-7 Years
Region: Tennessee
Cask Type(s): Charred Virgin American Oak
ABV: 45%
No. of Bottles: Not Available
Maturation Time: Not Available
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- Color: Very light amber
- Nose: Very light nose, caramel, vanilla, roast corn, apple, allspice, brown sugar and a bit of oiliness in the background
- Taste: Caramel, raisin, vanilla, rye cereals, apple, allspice, tea tannins, fresh lemons
- Finish: Medium to long with candy apple, lemon juice and roasted corn
Wow this is surprisingly good. The nose, while a bit light, has some nice heavy sweet notes lying in the back and while the brown sugar didn't play big into the palate the big caramels, rye cereals and black tea and lemon elements really work well with a tiny bit of oiliness that's gone along with this whiskey. The finish is also decently long which was the biggest surprise as I thought that this was just going to be yet another young boring whiskey with a celebrity attached but I guess I'm totally wrong and fortunately so! It's really drinkable too at 90 proof but has enough body to where you'd think it was a bottled in bond bourbon so hopefully they keep this age the same for future bottles because its good stuff. However, at the price point of around $45 USD you're competing with some good budget barrel proof bourbons like Wild Turkey Rare Breed and Stagg Jr. but if you can find this for around the 25-30 USD range I think it's absolutely worth picking up. Hopefully they do a barrel proof of this stuff because the nose I think will be fixed from that which is the biggest thing that sets this whiskey back. But overall it's a really enjoyable bourbon and one of my biggest surprises this year so far! Well done Bobby D. and The Band!
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