Parker’s Heritage Collection, 2023, Cask Strength Rye Whiskey

I’d like to thank Heaven Hill for providing this review sample with no strings attached.

Parker's Heritage Collection is Heaven Hill’s annual “Ultra-Premium” bourbon release named for Parker Beam, Heaven Hill’s late Master Distiller Emeritus. For many years now, a portion of each bottle’s price has been donated to support ALS research and patient care in honor of Mr. Beam. To this point, sales of Parker’s Heritage Collection have raised over $1.2 million, which is pretty cool.

So on to the bourbon, Heaven Hill was very detailed on how this bourbon was created, so instead of rehashing everything, I’ll just let them speak for themselves in this one.

The 17th edition is comprised of 10-year-old Rye Whiskey that was barreled in August, October, or December of 2012. The barrels were aged on the first floors of Rickhouses H1 and H2, the fifth floor of Rickhouse FF, the third and seventh floors of Rickhouse BB, and the second floor of Rickhouse DD. At bottling, the liquid was non-chill filtered to preserve the natural flavors of the aging process. The mashbill for this edition is comprised of Heaven Hill Distillery’s traditional Rye Whiskey Mashbill 51% rye, 35% corn, and 14% malted barley and bottled at cask strength, 128.8 proof.

Let’s see how it tastes.

Parker's Heritage Collection, 17ᵗʰ Edition, 10-Year-Old, Cask-Strength Rye Whiskey

Purchase Info: This sample was provided for review purposes by the producer at no charge. The suggested retail price is $185.00

Price Per Drink (50 mL): $12.33

Details: 10 years old, 64.4% ABV. Mash Bill: 51% rye, 35% corn, and 14% malted barley

Nose: Cola, cedar, honey, and herbal mint.

Mouth: Hot and very sweet. Honey, cedar, cherry, and herbal mint.

Finish: Hot and long with prominent notes of honey and cherry, followed by notes of oak and baking spice.

Thoughts: Wow! Not only is this really hot—at almost 130° proof, I expected that—but it's much sweeter than I anticipated. In fact, I'm not sure I've ever had a rye with this much honey sweetness before. And you know I love honey, so this one hits in all the right places for me. I will say, though, that I prefer it with a small piece of ice or a splash of water. All the flavors stick around, but the heat is tamed a bit. It's delicious in either case. I like this one a lot.

Now, I usually pour off a section of these samples to share with local friends who love whiskey. But this time, I decided on a whim to use this more lavishly. I made myself possibly the most expensive Sazerac I’ve ever made at home. I used two ounces of Parker’s Heritage Rye, five shakes of barrel-aged Peychaud’s Bitters, and a squeeze of Agave syrup in a glass spritzed with absinth and a lemon twist. Oh my goodness! I know I’ve never had a Sazerac this good. Not in a bar, not at home, not in New Orleans. It was very possibly the best cocktail I’ve ever made. And after using $15 worth of whiskey in it, it should be. Just thought I’d share that. Not that anyone who didn’t get it for free (or is extravagantly wealthy) would use it this way, but if you were curious like I was, there you go.

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Larceny Barrel Proof, C923

I’d like to thank Heaven Hill for providing this review sample with no strings attached.

Well folks, it’s officially Fall Bourbon Release Season. I’ve gotten press releases for some and I’ve seen shipment notifications for others. But this Larceny Barrel Proof is the first that has arrived for review. We’ve talked a lot over the years about both Elijah Craig and Larceny Barrel Proof Bourbons. So I’ll just jump right into it.

This is the third and final release of the barrel-proof version of Larceny, Heaven Hill’s flagship wheated Bourbon, for 2023. As always this is delicious and quite hot. This one clocks in at 126.4° proof. The bourbons used in this batch are between six and eight years old. The suggested retail price is $59.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

Let’s dig in and see how it tastes.

Larceny Barrel Proof, B523

Purchase Info: This sample bottle was provided by the producer for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $59.99.

Price per Drink (50 ml): $4.00

Details: 63.2% ABV

Nose: Dusty oak, almond, caramel and baking spice.

Mouth: Oak, caramel, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Finish: Long and warm. Dry with notes of oak and nutmeg.

Thoughts: Very oak forward on this one. Sweet and spicy in the month but the finish is dry. Very tasty. Water amps up the sweetness and tames the spiciness a bit.

Comparison to B523: C923 is much sweeter on the nose. Though B523 is hot and spicy, C923 is even spicier. The spiciness is balanced by a sweetness that B523 is lacking by comparison. I like them both but if I had the option to choose, I'd choose C923 for the extra sweetness. And this is very strange since I said last time that I would have chosen B523 over A123 for the same reason. More sweetness. I guess this year started great and just got progressively sweeter. In any case, you can’t go wrong with any of this year’s releases.

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Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond, Spring 2023 Edition

I’d like to thank Heaven Hill for providing this review sample with no strings attached.

Folks, you know what is amazing? That I, a well-noted clumsy person, have never broken a bone. Maybe it’s all the calcium that I ingested as a boy growing up in Wisconsin. I’ve tripped over both existent and non-existent items for almost 50 years. I’ve slipped, I’ve fallen, I’ve hit my head on things hard and soft. But no bones were ever broken.

Until last night when I tripped over a stone in my yard while barefoot, the concrete chunk that I used as part of my stone edging ripped open one of the smaller toes and (based on the color and severity of the bruises and the sensitivity of the toe) likely broke it too. It was an interesting night as I tried to keep dogs from stomping on it.

But the night wasn’t all bad. I also had the opportunity to taste a lovely sample from Heaven Hill. And no, I tasted it after the injury, not prior. The injury was solely due to my own clumsiness with no help from imbibed substances.

Tonight’s bourbon is the latest in Heaven Hill’s Old Fitzgerald line of Wheated Bourbons. It was distilled in the Spring of 2013 and Bottled in the Spring of 2023, making it ten years old and, as it is a bonded bourbon, 100° proof. As usual, it comes in a beautiful decanter. This edition has a suggested retail price of $140.

Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond Spring 2023

Purchase Info: This sample was provided at no charge for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $139.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $9.33

Details: 10 years old. 50% ABV

Nose: Spearmint, bubble gum, and just a hint of baking spices.

Mouth: Velvety mouthfeel. Initial notes of caramel, cocoa, and almond before spicy cinnamon and nutmeg take over.

Finish: Warm and on the shorter side of medium with notes of cherry, cinnamon, and cocoa.

Thoughts: This is very good, though priced way out of my price range for what it is. I'd buy two at $70. But at $140? Well, I would have a hard time explaining the purchase to my wife. (Though not for nothin', she said she'd probably buy it if she saw it because she wants the bottle. If given the opportunity to choose, though, she'd pick a different edition to fulfill her need to put pretty bottles on the shelf.) It's very good, just not $140 good.

Did you enjoy this post? If you want to support the work going on here at BourbonGuy.com, please consider a one-time donation at ko-fi.com/bourbonguy or paypal.me/BourbonGuy. Or you could buy some merch (tasting journals, stickers, pins, posters, and more) at BourbonGuyGifts.com.

Square 6 High-Rye Rye Whiskey & Square 6 Wheated Bourbon

I’d like to thank Heaven Hill for providing these review samples with no strings attached.

Hey, we’re back with the two newest releases in the Square 6 lineup. I’m not going to lie to you. I found the High-Rye Bourbon that we reviewed in the last post to be very disappointing. As far as I’m aware, I’ve seldom, if ever, disliked a Heaven Hill product, especially when it was something that was selling for almost $100.

Heaven Hill touts the Evan Williams Experience as an “Artisinal” distillery. And I can see that logic with it only being able to produce a barrel of distillate daily. And honestly, the High-Rye bourbon tasted like an early craft whiskey. Unfortunately, they priced it like one as well. We used to call that the “craft tax.” You’d pay too much for sub-par whiskey because the small guys didn’t have the economies of scale to buy enough product to get the lowest prices for their ingredients or the cash flow to let it age out to the point of smoothing off the rough edges. Heaven Hill has no such issue here. Sure, at a barrel per day, they will never have a lot of the whiskeys. But if it isn’t on the same level as your other ultra-premium whiskeys, is it worth watering down your brand by pricing it like one of them? I honestly don’t know. I just yell into the void on the internet. But from my chair, I wouldn’t have done it that way.

Anyway, I’ll start out with a spoiler. The next two do, in fact, taste better than the High-Rye Bourbon. I even liked one of them. Though even then, I certainly wouldn’t pay $90 for it.

Square 6 High-Rye Rye Whiskey

Summary of the Press Release: On October 18, 2022, Heaven Hill Distillery introduced the Square 6 High-Rye Rye Whiskey, the second craft product of its series launched from the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience. This exclusive Rye Whiskey features a mashbill with 63% Rye, 24% Corn, and 13% Malted Barley, distinguishing it from their traditional Rye Whiskey mashbill. Bottled at 95 proof, it boasts intriguing notes of black tea, sweet honey, fig, molasses, allspice, pepper, vanilla, and cardamom. Limited in quantity, the Square 6 High-Rye Rye Whiskey is available at the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience and select Kentucky retailers for $89.99.

Purchase Info: This sample was provided at no cost by Heaven Hill for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $89.99

Price per Drink (50 mL): $6.00

Details: 47.5% ABV. Mashbill: 63% Rye, 24% Corn, and 13% Malted Barley

Nose: Cedar, cotton candy, and cinnamon.

Mouth: Cinnamon candies, cola, mint, ginger, and vanilla.

Finish: Medium length and warm. Notes of cedar, mint, cola, and ginger.

Thoughts: Not bad. It certainly isn't my favorite rye, but I wouldn't turn down a glass, either. Overall this straddles the line between "I Like it" and "I'm neutral on this." In such cases, I usually round up. And I’m doing so again here. There are definitely interesting notes in there that help bump it up. I really like how the cola notes play with the mint and the ginger. Overall, this is an interesting take on rye, a category big Kentucky distilleries rarely innovate in.

Square 6 Wheated Bourbon

Summary of the Press Release: On June 13, 2023, Heaven Hill Distillery introduced Square 6 Wheated Bourbon. This is the third product in the Square 6 line that was developed at the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience in Louisville. This new bourbon is a blend of two distinct wheated mashbills, one with 74% corn, 16% wheat, and 10% malted barley, and the other with 68% corn, 20% wheat, and 12% malted barley. Bottled at 105 proof, the Square 6 Wheated Bourbon offers rich aromas of caramel, vanilla, figs, bing cherries, and oak, with a palate featuring sweet confectioners' sugar and walnuts, and a finish highlighted by walnuts, oak tannins, baking spices, cinnamon, and cola. Artisanal Distiller Jodie Filiatreau and the team at Evan Williams Bourbon Experience craft one barrel of this unique bourbon daily, constantly refining the hand-crafted pot still process for each recipe. The limited release of Square 6 Wheated Bourbon is available at the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience and select Kentucky retailers for a suggested retail price of $89.99.

Purchase Info: This sample was provided at no cost by Heaven Hill for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $89.99

Price per Drink (50 mL): $6.00

Details: 52.5% ABV. Mashbill: a blend of two distinct wheated mashbills, one with 74% corn, 16% wheat, and 10% malted barley, and the other with 68% corn, 20% wheat, and 12% malted barley.

Nose: Strong oak notes, along with fruit and cinnamon.

Mouth: Cedar, mint, cinnamon, and fresh lumber.

Finish: Medium length and warm. Notes of fruit, mint, cinnamon, and chocolate.

Thoughts: First thoughts? Not bad, not great. Expanding a little on that thought: it is not objectively bad, but it's not for me. As usual, in such cases, I'm giving it a neutral rating. But, like I said, it just doesn’t align with my palate. However, it is not nearly as tasty as I would have expected from Heaven Hill.

And heck, there might be people who want to spend the money on something different and end up liking it. I wouldn’t look sideways at them for that. I’m not the type to yuck anyone’s yum. That said, I'd definitely see if someone is pouring it in a Louisville bar before heading over to the Evan Williams Experience to buy a bottle. That goes for all three, in fact. I can see the Square 6 line being polarizing. And it would be terrible to drop a hundred bucks on a bottle if it turns out you don’t like it.

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Jefferson’s Reserve Bourbon, Revisited and a Giveaway

This bottle of Jefferson’s Reserve was provided by the producer for review purposes with no strings attached.

It has been one thousand eight hundred and fifty-six days since I last reviewed Jefferson’s Reserve. At that point, in order to find content, I was working my way through the various releases of brands like Jefferson’s. Basically, those that had “good, better, best” product line-ups. My thoughts at the time were flattering. I enjoyed the pour even though it didn’t really fit the “stereotypical” bourbon flavor profile. I called it a “change-of-pace” bourbon.

The article I wrote was, for the most part, a defense of the brand being open about being created from sourced whiskey, which was still—somehow—a relative rarity five years ago. And people were still up in arms if you were a bottler instead of a distiller. These days, of course, most of the brands you see on the shelf are sourced, and I’ve found that a high percentage of them are fairly open about it. I’d like to include a comment from a reader about the article here because John summarizes my thoughts in the article better than I did in the article itself.

Great write-up and I share your sentiments regarding the criticism Jefferson's receives in some bourbon-centric Internet/social media outlets. I have personally never had an issue with their sourcing. My only quibble with Jefferson's is I feel their pricing is too high, but that is a quibble I have with other whiskeys, and is a bit like complaining about the tides rising and falling. The point that carries the day for me is I have never been disappointed by any pour of Jefferson's in the past, I have found them all to be enjoyable and unique.

Now, I hadn’t planned to revisit Jefferson’s Reserve until their PR agency reached out to me and offered me a chance at a media kit containing a few goodies and a couple of bottles of whiskey. One of the bottles was Jefferson’s Ocean Rye, which I'd recently reviewed, and the choice of either Jefferson’s or Jefferson’s Reserve. When I noticed that I’d last looked at the Reserve five years ago, in 2018, I decided to take them up on it. I figured branded goodies are always nice giveaways. (See below the tasting notes for more on that.)

Plus…free whiskey.

So let’s see how it tastes, shall we? Is it still a “change-of-pace,” or has it fallen in line with more typical bourbon flavor profiles in the last five years?

Jefferson's Reserve

Purchase Info: This was provided by the producer for review purposes. It sells locally for anywhere from $52.99 to $65.

Price per Drink: $3.53 to $4.33

Details: 45.1% ABV

Nose: Bubblegum, mint, vanilla, and cocoa.

Mouth: Cinnamon, mint, vanilla, oak, red fruits, and bubblegum.

Finish: Warm and on the longer side of medium. Notes of bubblegum, honey, cinnamon candies, and oak.

Thoughts: This is a lot better than I remember. In the past, I've gotten some rather strange notes from Jefferson's core products. This has none of that, and I am very pleasantly surprised. I’ll be enjoying the heck out of the rest of this bottle. I love a good bubblegum/cherry/almond note, especially when paired with a nice spice note. I’m a fan.

Giveaway

Hey, remember in the previous post when I mentioned that I was having trouble keeping track of all of these new bourbon releases? And how I’d usually ask the person in the liquor department what was new or selling well so that I could pick it up for review? Well, I’m trying another tactic. I’m asking you! Have you picked up a new or under-the-radar bourbon or rye brand that you loved (or hated, I mean, those can be fun too)? Nominate it for review on BourbonGuy.com. In return, you’ll be entered into the giveaway for the branded goodies sent to me as part of the Jefferson’s Bourbon media kit.

You can enter the giveaway using the form below. You may enter once per day. There will be one winner chosen at random. That winner will get the Jefferson’s Bourbon ball cap and Jefferson’s Bourbon deck of playing cards.

Good Luck! You have until Thursday, July 21st, 2023, to enter (you need to "log in" so I can receive your email address to notify you if you win, either login method gets me that).

Did you enjoy this post? If you want to support the work going on here at BourbonGuy.com, please consider a one-time donation at ko-fi.com/bourbonguy or paypal.me/BourbonGuy. Or you could buy some merch (tasting journals, stickers, pins, posters, and more) at BourbonGuyGifts.com.

Bib & Tucker Double Char Bourbon

I’d like to thank Deutsch Family Wine & Spirits and their PR team for providing this review sample with no strings attached.

Poor air quality is becoming a fixture of life this summer, isn’t it? Alexa gave me another air quality alert today. Luckily for me, we have it pretty good compared to the folks just a little to the east and south of us. Being as we are only in the “moderate air quality” range here in the southern Twin Cities Metro, I can actually go outside without breathing becoming hard to do. But according to the maps, many of you will smell smoke when you step outside.

Which sucks. Because though you might want smoke on your food or your whiskey, you probably do not want it in your lungs. So stay safe, folks.

But speaking of smoke and whiskey, let’s take a look at Bib & Tucker Double Char. This Tennessee bourbon was aged for six years in standard 53-gallon charred White Oak barrels before being finished in a second heavily charred barrel for an additional 5-plus months. Now, as this is Tennessee bourbon, it does go through the Lincoln County process of being filtered through sugar maple charcoal prior to aging.

And according to the company:

For Double Char, to pay homage to the Lincoln County process, the second barrel is smoked with sugar maple before being filled with our 6 year aged bourbon. The perfect amount of time in the barrels, the char, and the sugar maple barrel smoking process delivers a bourbon with an inviting savory white smoke flavor not found in any other whiskey on the market.

I tasted this prior to reading the press release, and I personally didn’t detect any smoke, which is a good thing, as I tend to dislike smoky notes in my whiskey. But there was a subtle note that I could be convinced was smoke now that I’ve read it. It’s one of those interesting notes that is subtle enough that it only comes into focus once someone else points it out.

So let’s see how it tastes.

Bib & Tucker Double Char Bourbon

Purchase Info: This was provided free of charge for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $54.99.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $3.66

Details: 6 years old. 44% ABV. Batch 01. Bottle 29090. Distilled in Tennessee.

Nose: Mint, vanilla, cinnamon, fresh lumber, (seasoned) oak, and a touch of cherry.

Mouth: Sweet caramel and vanilla, vibrant cinnamon, and sharp oak.

Finish: Medium in both length and warmth. Notes of cherry, cinnamon, minerals, and vanilla.

Thoughts: I'm a bit shocked at how complex the flavor is, considering it's low proof. I'm a fan. If you like the usual suspects when it comes to supplying sourced bourbon from Tennessee, you'll probably like this too. Has a bit of a Dickel vibe to it.

Now you might ask how it compares to the standard Bib & Tucker 6-year-old. And since they were nice enough to send me a sample of that for comparison’s sake, let’s take a look. The noses are similar, but Double Char is sweeter on the nose. The mouths have similar notes, but Double Char is sweeter and spicier. Standard 6 has a longer finish, but Double Char compensates for that by having more complexity on the finish. Overall, if you like one, you'll probably like the other.

Did you enjoy this post? If you want to support the work going on here at BourbonGuy.com, please consider a one-time donation at ko-fi.com/bourbonguy or paypal.me/BourbonGuy. Or you could buy some merch (tasting journals, stickers, pins, posters, and more) at BourbonGuyGifts.com.

Ezra Brooks Bourbon Cream, now at 33 proof

I’d like to thank ByrnePR and Lux Row for providing this review sample with no strings attached.

Last Christmas, we took a look at four different bourbon cream liqueurs. Since that time, one of them—Ezra Brooks Bourbon Cream—has been reformulated in order to give it a pretty hefty proof bump from 25° proof to 33° proof. Now, at first, I thought that it was an odd time of year to be releasing a bourbon cream. I usually think of it as a drink to have during the holidays.

But then, I remembered ice cream. Something that I usually do not keep in the house. Mostly because the bourbon is making me fat enough. But, if I was going to give a bottle of bourbon cream a fair shake in the summer, I needed it in a milkshake.

Do you see the sacrifices I make for you?

Anyway, before we talk about how delicious a boozy milkshake made with Ezra Brooks Bourbon Cream is, let’s see what the company has to say about their new release:

Ezra Brooks Bourbon Cream is still made using all-natural cream and Kentucky Straight Bourbon but is now bottled at 33 proof – one of the highest proof levels of any offering in the Bourbon Cream category. Tasting notes include cinnamon, nutmeg and caramel with hints of vanilla and sweet pecan on the nose and buttery caramel, sweet toffee and a smooth, warm finish on the palate. Like its other elevated namesakes, Ezra Brooks Bourbon Cream now is offered in upscale packaging – in this case, with a prominent “33” callout and Lux Row Distillers embossing on the bottle’s shoulder.

Ezra Brooks Bourbon Cream, 33 proof

Purchase Info: This was provided but the producer for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $21.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $1.47

Details: 16.5% ABV

Nose: Creamy with caramel, vanilla, chocolate, and a "boozy" note beneath it all.

Mouth: Nice thick mouthfeel. Follows the nose with notes of vanilla, caramel, and chocolate.

Finish: Sweet and creamy with notes of vibrant vanilla along with caramel and cinnamon.

Thoughts: This is delicious. It's like dipping a delicious cookie in milk. It is sweet and creamy. And that powerful vanilla note on the finish makes the wholes thing a pleasure to sip.

Ok. So since this bottle arrived, I’ve eaten almost an entire quart of ice cream in milkshake form. This stuff pairs so well with it that you can go as simple as just ice cream and bourbon cream in a blender. Of course a splash of chocolate is also quite delicious. You can even toss in some malt power to make a boozy chocolate malt. Every single milkshake recipe I’ve tried has been amazing. I’m a big fan…might be time for bigger pants.

Did you enjoy this post? If you want to support the work going on here at BourbonGuy.com, please consider a one-time donation at ko-fi.com/bourbonguy or paypal.me/BourbonGuy. Or you could buy some merch (tasting journals, stickers, pins, posters, and more) at BourbonGuyGifts.com.