Knob Creek 10 Year Rye Whiskey

Wow! So much has happened since we were last together. I took an unexpected drive to California. And I do mean unexpected. I was supposed to be on an early morning flight with Delta on the day of the CrowdStrike meltdown. That flight was canceled as we arrived at the airport, as was the next day’s flight we were rebooked on. At least we didn’t need to drive to the airport and back to figure that one out; it was canceled by 3 am.

It was at that point, wide awake at 3 am on a Saturday and trying to make big decisions, that we chose to do something we might not have considered otherwise: drive straight through from the Minneapolis suburbs to Eureka, California. Google Maps told us it was a 31-hour trip, while Apple Maps said 30 hours. So we said, “Fuck it! We like a road trip,” and took Delta up on their offer of refunded tickets.

About 1 am Sunday morning, we crossed into Nevada on I-80 and started regretting our decision. The only other things on the road were tired truckers and swerving semis. It was then, with my wife and nephew asleep in the car, that the song "Hotel California" started running through my head—especially the part that goes, "My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim. I had to stop for the night."

It turned out both my wife and I, taking turns driving and sleeping, had hit a wall at the same time. Thank goodness for Flying J parking lots. After a solid two hours of sleep, we were back on the road. We made it to Eureka just in time for hotel check-in and made good use of the beds. Might have been the most comfortable beds I’d slept in for a long time—at least for the first night there.

On the way back, we were smart enough to spend the night in a hotel halfway home. That was much nicer.

So, now that you’ve heard my story, let’s jump over to tonight’s whiskey: Knob Creek 10 Year Rye. It’s, you guessed it, a ten-year-old version of Knob Creek Rye. The base product now carries a seven-year-old age statement. I’d had the seven-year previously. It’s good, but when I saw this on the shelf, well, it was in the cart before I even noticed the price. I mean, I like Knob Creek Rye. Why wouldn’t an older version be better?

Knob Creek 10 Year Rye Whiskey

Purchase info: $71.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Price per Drink (50 mL): $4.80

Details: 50% ABV.

Nose: Spearmint, oak, and cherry Cola.

Mouth: Cinnamon, cedar, spearmint, and oak.

Finish: Medium in length and warmth. Notes of cinnamon, cedar, mint, and red fruit.

Thoughts: The finish is the best part of this. It just blossoms with flavors when you swallow. Of course, that doesn't mean that the rest is bad—quite the contrary. The nose and mouth are very good. It's just that the finish is even better. It is spicy with lots of wood notes. I like this one a lot.

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A. Overholt Straight Rye Whiskey

Does anyone else out there just never eat at their kitchen table? I try to. But then I set the mail on it. And then an Amazon package for my wife or kid. Then I set something for the dogs on it. And this keeps going until I just have to fully commit to the fact that I don’t have a table—I have a storage space. Some people have a junk drawer to keep their odds and ends in; I have a junk table.

Well, until either my wife or I get sick of it. Then we clean it up, put everything away, and try to get a couple of meals or a jigsaw puzzle in before the cycle starts over.

So, I was cleaning off my table this weekend when I found the last two issues of Chuck Cowdery’s Bourbon County Reader. It’s one of the few bourbon-focused publications that I still read. As I’ve slowly withdrawn from being chronically online over the last few years, I’ve found that I like reading things that aren’t on a screen. It’s nice to be unconnected at times. That’s why I like Mr. Cowdery’s newsletter. Not only is it always interesting and informative, it’s paper and lands in my mailbox.

I bring that up because May’s issue was where I first heard about tonight’s whiskey: A. Overholt from Suntory Global’s Beam division. A. Overholt is a line extension in their Old Overholt line. Though, unlike previous line extensions, this isn’t just Old Overholt with a little more age or a different proof. No, for this one Beam used an entirely different mashbill. There is no corn in this whiskey. It is 80% rye and 20% malted barley. It was aged four years and bottled at a non-chill filtered 95° proof.

According to Mr. Cowdery’s article, this unusual mashbill used to be anything but. It was a fairly standard mashbill for the historical Monongahela Rye, a Pennsylvania product. However, as rye fell out of favor and the whiskey industry consolidated, rye-making moved to Kentucky. Over time, more and more corn was added to the mashbills (partly because corn is cheaper, partly because corn gives a better mouthfeel) until many rye whiskeys were just a few percentage points away from being high-rye bourbons.

At least until MGP’s 95% rye mashbill hit the market in a big way a little over a decade ago. In the intervening years, rye sales took off in ways that took some companies by surprise. Wild Turkey even took their 101 Rye off the market for a while to help stretch their supplies further. And as more and more rye whiskeys that were sourced from MGP hit the market, I decided that I actually preferred a higher rye content in my rye whiskey than the “barely legal” version that many Kentucky distilleries were putting out at the time. So, it was with great pleasure that I saw new Kentucky distilleries releasing just that. For a long time, Old Forester was one of my favorites with their 70% rye mashbill. And now Beam joins the club by leaving the corn out entirely.

So, let’s see how this thing tastes, shall we?

A. Overholt Straight Rye Whiskey

Purchase Info: $40.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Price per Drink (50 mL): $2.73

Details: 47.5% ABV. 80% Rye, 20% Malted Barley. 4-years-old.

Nose: Wintergreen, cedar, and a nutty/bready note.

Mouth: Toasted grains, cedar, and nutmeg.

Finish: Medium in length and warmth. Notes of toasted grains, cedar, wintergreen, and nutmeg linger.

Thoughts: This is completely unlike any rye I've had. There are lovely bready notes throughout. Toasted whole grain notes bring a ton of warm, comforting flavors to the mouth and finish. And the wintergreen and nutmeg add top and bottom notes to the whole.

I wasn't sure what to expect here. I kind of expected something like a nuttier MGP 95/5% rye with the lack of corn. But, while this does have more nutty notes due to the increased malted barley, it doesn't present the rye in the same way. This has a nice mouthfeel but isn't sweet in the way a bourbon would be. I like it. I can't wait to spend more time with the bottle. In the short time I've already spent with it, I can attest it makes a mighty fine Sazerac cocktail and a delicious Old Fashioned.

Heading out for a week’s vacation so no posts next week. BourbonGuy.com will be back to it’s regular schedule July 30th, 2024.

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McMann & Tate Cocktail Bitters

I’d like to thank McMann & Tate Cocktail Co. for providing this review sample with no strings attached.

A few weeks ago, a very nice person wrote to me offering a sample of their company’s cocktail bitters. As I am always in the mood to add to my bitters collection (seriously, I think I need to pare it down—three shelves full is a bit overkill), I happily accepted, as I’d never heard of the brand.

When the bitters arrived, well, let’s just say that I was smitten. I love, love, love the late 1950s-1960s “space age” style design language. Give me a kidney-shaped design element, and I’m going to perk right up. It’s the same design language that inspired my “retro” styled bourbon t-shirt and die-cut sticker (for sale now at BourbonGuyGifts.com). Though honestly, I didn’t lean into it as much as the designers of the McMann & Tate Cocktail Company brand did. So, without even tasting the bitters, I was on board with this. I just hoped that they tasted as good as they looked.

But before we get into that, who is McMann & Tate? And no, I don’t mean the fictional ad agency that employed the husband in the old Bewitched TV show (though the company might want to work on the ol’ SEO since the fictional agency was what filled the first page of Google). They are a cocktail ingredient company out of New Jersey. They sell nine types of bitters, four types of freeze-dried citrus wheel garnishes, and three types of flavored rim salts. And yes, they all look amazing.

I received three bottles from them: the Wildly Aromatic, the Moroccan Orange, and the Bing Cherry. These are the exact three flavors that we use most often in our house, having developed our own recipes for them over the years. I was most excited to try the aromatic. In my experience, one aromatic bitters can differ from another much more than one orange bitters from another orange bitters. Same with cherry.

When I test bitters, I tend to do it in the most reproducible way possible. Namely, I make my favorite non-alcoholic, non-mind-altering drink (bitters and soda water) and then an Old Fashioned. Both are very simple drinks, and the differences from drink to drink are solely from the bitters. For the Old Fashioned, I used Maker’s Mark 101 proof as it is a pretty plain palette to paint the bitters across, and it tastes delicious. The impressions below encapsulate both testing methods.

McMann & Tate Cocktail Co. Bitters

Purchase info: These were sent to me at no charge for review purposes. Each bottle is $14.99 for a two-ounce bottle on the brand website.

Details: 40% ABV.

Bing Cherry Bitters

In soda water: Cherry and spice notes finishing with a nice bitterness.
In an Old Fashioned: Pairs well with Maker's 101. Brings out the inherent cherry notes in Maker's with a strong cherry finish.

Wildly Aromatic Bitters

In soda water: Baking spice on the nose. Mouth has a lot of Coca-Cola, vanilla, and backing spice notes.
In an Old Fashioned: Coca-Cola on the nose. Baking spice notes led by clove and anise on the mouth. Finish is Coca-Cola again.

Moroccan Orange Bitters

In soda water: Citrus zest on the nose. Bitter orange notes with very little spice.
In an Old Fashioned: Orange on the nose. Hints of orange on the mouth. This really shines on the finish with a strong orange flavor.

Thoughts:

The Cherry is great on its own. I’m a big fan. It didn’t show much on the nose, but the mouth and finish are very flavorful. For the Orange, I'd probably add a touch of aromatic if I was using it in an Old Fashioned. There isn’t quite the level of spice that I like in my Old Fashioned, but that is something I find in most brands of orange bitters. The Aromatic is delicious on its own. I was always on the Coke side of the Coke and Pepsi Cola Wars, and this reminds me of that tasty beverage. Made a damn fine old-fashioned. What I like about having multiple bitters, though, is using a couple of different ones together. The orange and cherry work nicely together. We’ve already discussed orange and aromatic. And cherry cola is always tasty. I’d recommend giving them a shot. I know I’ll be doing a little shopping after I’m done here.

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Penelope Rosé Cask Finish

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

Hello, my friends. I hope you all made it through another explosive holiday with all your fingers intact and a lot of barbeque in your belly (whether your preferred definition of that word is smoking or grilling). As I was watching a bunch of very large and frightened dogs, I had neither the ability to enjoy the explosions or some barbeque. Alas, such is the life of a dogsitter on a holiday weekend.

But one thing I did enjoy was a bit of bourbon. After all, it’d be a bit silly to celebrate the birthday of the United States without indulging at least a taste of its Native Spirit. I wasn’t, however, enjoying tonight’s whiskey, preferring something a bit more traditional while my wife was away. But once she got home, we got down to tasting the samples that came in while she was gone.

So, let’s talk about this bourbon from MGP’s Penelope brand. As always, this is a blend of different mashbills, some using rye as a flavoring grain and others using wheat. This is how they get to what they call their Four Grain bourbon. The composite mashbill works out to 74% corn, 15% wheat, 7% rye, and 3% malted barley. The component bourbons were aged between four and five years in barrels with a number 4 char level (number 2 on the barrel heads). According to the brand website, the blend was then finished for about four months in “French Grenache Rosé Wine Casks from the Southern Rhône region of France” before being bottled at a non-chill-filtered 94° proof.

Let’s see how it tastes.

Penelope Rosé Cask Finish

Purchase Info: This sample was provided for review purposes at no cost. The suggested retail price is $49.99

Price per Drink (50 mL): $3.33

Details: 47% ABV. A blend of three bourbon mash bills. Composite Mashbill: 76% corn, 14% wheat, 7% rye, and 3% malted barley. 4- to 5-year-old bourbon finished in Rosé casks for about four months.

Nose: Vanilla sugar, dried grains, and cherry.

Mouth: Fruity and biscuity with supporting notes of caramel, vanilla, and baking spice.

Finish: Medium length and warmth with notes of caramel cherries, buttermilk biscuits, and baking spice.

Thoughts: It took me a bit to warm to this one. I was fairly neutral at first as I processed the combo of red fruit and biscuits. But as I did the tasting, I ended up liking it more. My wife give it an unwavering like, I'm on the fence between like and neutral. So I'm giving it a smile. I like it, just not as much as my wife.

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Cedar Ridge Rye and Bottled-in-Bond Rye Whiskeys

This week, we’re offering two reviews for the price of one as we examine a couple of rye whiskeys from Cedar Ridge Distillery in Iowa. Since tomorrow is a holiday, and yesterday was crazy with work, I thought I’d combine both posts into one, as it seemed thematically appropriate.

So first, my bias. I am not a native Minnesotan, but I have lived here for almost twenty years. The reason I live here has more than a little to do with my time in college at the University of Minnesota. It wasn’t the main reason I moved here, but it didn’t hurt that I’d spent a particularly enjoyable part of my youth in the state. And as a Gopher, I am duty-bound to hate all things Hawkeye, which includes the state they live in and all things associated with it. I mean, the Hawkeyes can get fucked. (If you know how college football rivalries work, you’ll understand that last bit. Don’t worry, I feel the same way about my birthplace of Wisconsin due to my hatred of the Badgers, too.)

So now that I’ve disclosed that my bias is a mild dislike of all things Iowa based on the fact that I hate their Big Ten college football team, let’s move on to the whiskeys.

While I did the tastings for these, I was under the impression that they were the same whiskey with different ages and proofs. But I was excited to learn that these are completely different mashbills. The Straight Rye that we will be looking at first is 12% corn, 51% malted rye, 34% rye, and 3% malted barley. The Bottled-in-Bond leaves out the unmalted rye and uses 85% malted rye instead. That’s very cool. For a long time, it was hard to get rye whiskey from a big distillery. Jimmy Russell used to say that Wild Turkey spent one day per year distilling all of the rye they put out. But these guys have at least two mashbills of rye that they produce. As a rye whiskey lover, this is a good time to be a fan.

Let’s start with the Cedar Ridge Straight Rye Whiskey, part of their core lineup.

Cedar Ridge Straight Rye Whiskey

Purchase Info: $37.99 for a 750 mL bottle at South Lyndale Liquors, Minneapolis, MN

Price per Drink (50 mL): $2.53

Details: 3- years-old. 43% ABV. Mashbill: 12% corn, 51% malted rye, 34% rye, 3% malted barley

Nose: Cinnamon, cedar, mint, and stone fruit.

Mouth: Cedar, cinnamon candies, and stone fruit.

Finish: Medium in length and warmth. Notes of dried grains, mint, and cedar.

Thoughts: I'm not a fan of this one. It tastes a bit too much like dried grains for my tastes. I know that there are very good rye whiskeys on the market that are even younger than this, so it isn't an age thing per se. I'm guessing it's a combination of age and climate. The average high in this part of Iowa is over 10°F lower than it is in Kentucky for most of the winter, which could lead to aging taking longer unless they use climate-controlled aging spaces. I don't know for sure how they age their product, so that's only a guess. All that said, this isn't a bad whiskey. It just doesn't align with my palate, mostly due to the very grain-forward nature of the finish.

Now let’s do the Limited Edition Bottled-in-Bond Rye.

Cedar Ridge Bottled-in-Bond Rye

Purchase Info: $49.99 for a 750 mL bottle at South Lyndale Liquors, Minneapolis, MN

Price per Drink (50 mL): $3.33

Details: 50% ABV. 4-years-old. Mashbill: 12% corn, 85% malted rye, 3% malted barley. DSP-IA-15001

Nose: Cedar, cinnamon, dried grains, and biscuits.

Mouth: Caramel, stone fruit, cinnamon, cedar, and oak.

Finish: Medium length and warmth. Notes of cinnamon, mint, and cedar.

Thoughts: It's amazing what another year, a bit more proof, and the elimination of non-malted rye will do for a whiskey. This has a nicer mouth feeel, is sweeter, and shows more barrel influence than the 86 proof. And even though I don’t usually care for malted rye in a whiskey, I like this one. This particular Iowa whiskey is better than any of the Minnesota ryes I’ve tried.

See I can say something nice about Iowa.

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If you want to support our work at BourbonGuy.com, please consider a one-time donation at ko-fi.com/bourbonguy or paypal.me/BourbonGuy. Or you could buy some merch that I’ve designed and/or built (tasting journals, t-shirts, stickers, pins, signs, posters, and more) at BourbonGuyGifts.com. Use code BOURBONGUYREADER at checkout for 5% off any order of $50 or more.

Still Austin Cask Strength

I am jumping right into the description of the whiskey tonight as my wife is away for work and will need to proofread all of this via text message. She really doesn’t need to know that, at least so far, I’m doing just fine on my own after one day alone. We’ll wait until next week to mention any of that—when I’ll be forgetting to shower and eating over the sink like a smelly bachelor.

So, Still Austin Bourbon. This is a brand that I’ve seen mentioned online by people in the Austin, Texas area but that I never paid much attention to because I am not now, nor do I plan to be, in Texas anytime in the foreseeable future. I really don’t like the heat that much. No matter how much I complain about it, I’m much better suited for northern climates.

Still Austin is a craft distillery located in oh-so-hot Austin, Texas. It was started by a father-and-son team about a decade ago. They also employ independent Master Blender Nancy Fraley to help craft their whiskeys—one of the best in the business.

I was curious about making whiskey in the Texas climate. I know that early on in the craft distilling movement, there were stories of barrels completely evaporating away in the heat. When I saw that this bottle had a two-year-old age statement, I was a bit nervous that I was going to get something that was both over-oaked and yet immature when I cracked it open. But the company website addresses that, so I thought I’d quote that below:

SLOW WATER REDUCTION

As the Texas weather works its magic, as much as 15% of the spirit in the barrel can evaporate in the first year alone. To keep our whiskey in proper balance, our distillers employ an ancient process called slow water reduction or ‘elevage.’ This deeply complex process was developed in the brandy-making regions of Cognac and Armagnac in France and brought to us by our Master Blender, Nancy Fraley, who spent years in this region learning from masters of their craft. During this process, over the course of several months, we constantly monitor and add very small amounts of water to aging barrels to help reduce the impact of smokey phenolic compounds and break down more soluble sugars from the oak.

If, like me, you’d never heard of this dilution technique, Alcademics touched on it in a cognac blog post back in 2020.

Let’s see how this two-year-old cask-strength bourbon tastes, shall we?

Still Austin Cask Strength Bourbon

Purchase Info: $49.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Price per Drink (50 mL): $3.33

Details: 2 years old. 59% ABV. Mashbill: 70% White Corn, 25 % Rye, 5% Malted Barley.

Nose: Caramel, oak, and mint.

Mouth: Caramel, bubblegum, allspice, and cinnamon.

Finish: Hot and of medium length. Notes of caramel, bubble gum, mint, and cinnamon.

Thoughts: I'm extremely impressed by this two-year-old whiskey. It focuses mostly on sweetness and spice without the rich depth of older whiskeys aged in a more forgiving climate. But in no way does this taste green or of new make. It is really good, if a touch uncomplicated. I'm very happy with this purchase.

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If you want to support our work at BourbonGuy.com, please consider a one-time donation at ko-fi.com/bourbonguy or paypal.me/BourbonGuy. Or you could buy some merch that I’ve designed and/or built (tasting journals, t-shirts, stickers, pins, signs, posters, and more) at BourbonGuyGifts.com. Use code BOURBONGUYREADER at checkout for 5% off any order of $50 or more.

Jack Daniel’s Single-Barrel Barrel-Proof Rye Whiskey

I’m a big fan of serendipity. Most of my most interesting experiences in life have been completely unplanned. Take tonight’s whiskey. I’d been sitting on a bottle of Jack Daniel’s Bonded Rye for months before it finally came up in the editorial calendar. Later that week, I was wandering through the liquor store to see if anything caught my fancy when I saw its barrel-proof big Brother, for the first time. My closest Total Wine is set up very similarly to many others across the country. They have the extra-wide whiskey aisle with bourbon up one side, things they are trying to push down the center and Canadian, Flavored, “American” whiskey, and then Rye down the other as you make your way toward the front of the store.

I went up the bourbon section without seeing anything. There were a bunch of boxes of Spirits Direct crap down the center. I turned the corner to go down the other side. Glaced at the Canadian and didn’t see anything that interested me. I walked past the flavored section without stopping. I looked at most of the American Whiskey and Rye without seeing anything when, on the second-to-last shelf on the final facing, I saw this bottle of Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Barrel Proof Rye. It was the only one there. And knowing that I hadn’t covered it prior, it was in my cart before I even looked at the price.

Of course, then I looked at the price and was relieved that it was well under a hundred dollars. So, what is this newish release from the Tennessee Behemoth of American Whiskey? Well, it’s something that we’ve kinda looked at before. Back in 2020, Jack Daniel’s released a limited edition Single-Barrel Barrel-Proof Rye. About a year ago, they announced that it would become a permanent ongoing addition to the Single-Barrel lineup—a very welcome addition, in my opinion.

Like the other Jack Daniel’s Rye Whiskeys, this uses their standard rye mash bill of 70% rye, 18% corn, and 12% malted barley. Bottles will range between 125° proof and 145° proof. The suggested retail price is $59.99, though it was quite a bit more than that here in Minnesota at $75.

So let’s see how it tastes.

Jack Daniel’s Single-Barrel Barrel-Proof Rye Whiskey

Purchase Info: $74.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Price per Drink (50 mL): $5.00

Details: 65.25% ABV. Barrel House: 1-09. Barrel Number: 24-02588. Bottling Date: March 12, 2024

Nose: Spearmint, caramel, cedar, and circus peanuts (candy).

Mouth: Sweet and as hot as you'd expect 130° proof to be. Notes of Cinnamon, spearmint, caramel, and oak.

Finish: Medium length and hot. Notes of cinnamon, oak, banana, and caramel.

Thoughts: It is very sweet and very hot when neat. Luckily, a touch of water tames the heat without eliminating the sweetness or spice notes. This is delicious—absolutely delicious. Is it worth almost twice the price of the Bonded Rye? Well, that's up to you. All I’ll say is that I’m reaching to pour this one even though both are on my shelf next to one another. And honestly, I'd buy it again if I saw it at the store. Tasting them side-by-side, they taste pretty similar. As you might expect. But the added proof is quite tasty. When it comes to Jack Daniel’s, the less water they add, the more I like it.

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If you want to support our work at BourbonGuy.com, please consider a one-time donation at ko-fi.com/bourbonguy or paypal.me/BourbonGuy. Or you could buy some merch that I’ve designed and/or built (tasting journals, t-shirts, stickers, pins, signs, posters, and more) at BourbonGuyGifts.com. Use code BOURBONGUYREADER at checkout for 5% off any order of $50 or more.

Heaven’s Door Exploration Series I - Calvados Finish

All the cards are on the table here. I’m getting old. I’m almost 50, and the number of years behind me is probably greater than the number ahead of me. However, I’m not so old that I grew up being aware of Bob Dylan. I first heard Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door (this brand’s namesake) as a Guns N’ Roses song. A live version was in heavy rotation on MTV in the late 80s, or so I remember. And being a youngster, as far as I was concerned, it was their song. I’d never heard of Bob Dylan.

Of course, as I got older, my music tastes changed. Being quite the curmudgeon even then, in response to the rise of Grunge and Alternative Music, I got really into Classic Rock (which at the time was defined as late ’60s through ’70s rock music; let’s not talk about how it is defined these days…). This was when I realized that Bob Dylan was “that dude on the radio that really couldn’t sing that well, yet everyone seemed to like.” Which may be harsh and reductive, but I was young and more inclined to judge things harshly and reductively. I’m still more of a fan of Dylan's songs performed by other people than of his songs performed by himself, except as a member of the Traveling Wilburys. But I now understand the appeal and why he’s a part of our shared musical history.

So all that is to say that, unlike most Minnesotans of a certain age, I don’t hold any particular reverence for this one of our famous sons. I thought it odd when he put out a whiskey brand, but I also thought: “Heck, a lot of other celebrity brands have come and gone over the years. Why not Bob Dylan?” I reviewed their Trilogy 3-pack of 200 mL bottles back in late 2020. And then didn’t really give them another thought.

But then it did the darndest thing happened. The brand stuck around. Unlike a lot of other celebrity brands, it didn’t go away, which says to me that they must be doing something right. And so when I saw an email come across my desk highlighting a new expression that the brand was releasing, I was intrigued. And when I saw that it was a bourbon finished in Calvados casks, I was interested enough to go to the Heaven’s Door website and order myself a bottle. I love apple brandy. And from the first time I bought a bottle of apple brandy, I’ve been mixing it with bourbon. To me, the flavors go together extremely well.

Now, let’s look at this specific bourbon, shall we? We already know that it is a straight bourbon finished in Calvados casks. Calvados, if you were unaware, is an apple brandy from the Normandy region of France. Hence the brandy talk above. The bourbon is five years old and, well, let’s let the marketing folks from the brand describe this for me. They get paid more to write than I do.

The series’ debut is deeply rooted in French influence, with carefully incorporated elements of product, wood, and technique. Its foundation is comprised of Heaven’s Door’s award-winning Tennessee Straight Bourbon whiskey finished inside freshly dumped Calvados Brandy casks. We then introduce an additional layer of complexity through medium-heavy toasted French oak staves.

Calvados, an apple brandy from Normandy, France, matures for at least two years in the French oak casks before being filled with our Tennessee Bourbon. This imparts sought-after characteristics like fresh apple cider and baked apple brandy. Our new, medium-heavy toasted French oak staves, sourced from Quercus Petraea trees, offer excellent aroma, medium ellagitannins, and high oxygen permeability. 

Let’s see how it tastes.

Heaven’s Door Exploration Series I - Calvados Finish

Purchase Info: $79.99 for a 750 mL bottle from the Heaven’s Door Website.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $5.33

Details: 54% ABV. Finished in Calvados casks and toasted oak staves. 5 years old.

Nose: Apple blossoms, honey, and baking spices.

Mouth: Caramel, vanilla, cinnamon, baked apple, honey, and oak.

Finish: Medium length and warmth with notes of baking spice, floral apple, almond, and oak.

Thoughts: If you do not like apple brandy, you probably won't like this. However, as I'm a fan of apple brandy, I do like it. It reminds me of some of my home blends, where I'd mix apple brandy and bourbon, which means that the finishing was worthwhile and not just a gimmick. The bourbon isn’t as hot as I'd have expected a triple-digit proof bourbon to be. In other words, it can easily be consumed neat without water or ice. All in all, I like it, though $80 is a little expensive for me to want to buy another bottle when I usually have both bourbon and apple brandy on hand.

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