Blind Barrels Craft Whiskey Subscription Box

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

Tonight’s bonus review isn’t about a whiskey, per se, but rather a whiskey subscription box experience. Blind Barrels reached out and asked if I’d be interested in taking a look at their offering. Since this doesn’t easily translate to just words on a page, I decided to have some fun and make a video about it. For those who’d rather read than watch, here are the key points.

Blind Barrels Subscription Box

Purchase Info: I received this sample box from the producer at no cost for review purposes. Individual boxes and quarterly subscriptions are priced at $69.99 each, plus shipping. An annual subscription for four boxes is also available for $199.99.

Details: This subscription showcases craft whiskey and includes four blind 50 mL samples per box. More information is available at BlindBarrels.com.

Thoughts: I go much more in-depth on my thoughts in the video above, but here’s the bottom line. As someone who’s practically drowning in whiskey bottles (not a bad problem to have, right?), this isn’t something I’d personally buy for myself. If you’re a whiskey veteran with shelves that look like a distillery showroom, you might feel the same. But if you’re in that phase where you’re still itching to try all the whiskey—where every bottle you haven’t tasted feels like an unsolved mystery—this could be right up your alley.

Blind Barrels sends you four surprise samples of craft whiskey every quarter, wrapped in a little mystery and a whole lot of fun. You need to click a QR code just to find out what you are tasting. Back when I was a wide-eyed enthusiast chasing every new release and suffering from serious FOMO, this would’ve been exactly what I’d have wanted. And let’s be honest, we all go through that phase in our whiskey journey—where discovering new, obscure whiskeys is like unearthing hidden treasure.

If that’s where you are, this box adds a touch of adventure to your sipping routine. Or if you have a whiskey lover in your life who’s already hard to shop for, this might just win you gift-giver of the year. Hell, even now, I’d love to get one. Because let’s face it, blind tastings are a fun little game where everyone wins. And this one? Definitely no exception.

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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.

Woodinville Bourbon Sauternes Finish & Woodinville Founder’s Find Whiskey from a Bourbon Mash

I’d like to thank Woodinville Whiskey Company for providing these review samples with no strings attached.

Writing this in the morning is a weird feeling. I look outside, and the fog is deep as the sun comes up. There’s coffee in my cup. I’ve finished feeding the dogs but haven’t fed myself yet. I’ve read the news, checked my email, and gotten a good start to the day. But here I am, trying to write about whiskey at a time of day when I’m normally not even thinking of it.

And why? Because I have plans. Like, outside-the-house plans. It’s okay, you can be shocked that the hermit is leaving his cave. It’s very strange for me, too. But the tattoo artist I like is in a different state, so I need to leave the house if I’m going to get more work done. So here we are: talking about two different whiskeys when I usually think about coffee.

That’s right, we’ve got another two-fer on our hands. These two whiskeys were both sent to me by the Woodinville Whiskey Company to help promote their upcoming release. If you are a Woodinville fan who was at their distillery a couple of weeks ago, you might already have tried/purchased them at their annual Harvest Release party. But if you aren’t, here is a little background info on them.

These are both limited releases. You can preorder them now on the Woodinville website. Both are over 100 proof, and both have deviated from the standard aging process in various ways. The Sauternes Cask Finish is pretty self-explanatory. Woodinville took the bourbon that they make and finished it in casks that previously held a sweet dessert wine from France. We’ve covered a few whiskeys that have used casks from this wine as a barrel finish in the past.

The Founder’s Find, though, is a little more complicated. First off, they did not distill this one; it was sourced from a distillery in Tennessee. Secondly, it isn’t a bourbon—well, at least not entirely. This is what is known as a “Whiskey from a Bourbon Mash,” which means that if it had been poured into a new, charred oak barrel, it would have been a bourbon. But in this case, the barrels weren’t new; they were reconditioned. This means that the previously used barrel was scraped clean of the char and burned again to make a new char layer. Some of the flavor of the barrel would have already been pulled from it due to the first use. The other unusual thing about this whiskey is that it’s a blend that happened partway through the aging process. About six years in, a small amount of 15-year-old bourbon that had been distilled in Indiana was added to it before it finished the last six years of its rest. Quoting the press release now:

Years ago, a group of renowned distillers proposed the use of these [reconditioned] barrels and began experimenting, only to be rebuffed by lawmakers. Which is how [Woodinville founder] Orlin uncovered this forgotten barrel in the back corner of a legendary rickhouse, patiently waiting for someone to notice and appreciate it.

So now that we’ve learned a bit about them, let’s jump into the tasting notes and see if these are any good, shall we?

Woodinville Bourbon Sauternes Finish

Purchase Info: This sample was sent for review purposes at no cost. The suggested retail price is $69.99.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $4.67

Details: 52.5% ABV. Finished in Sauternes wine casks.

Nose: Dried grains lead off, with notes of brown sugar, molasses, and red fruit following.

Mouth: Nice, thick mouthfeel with notes of cinnamon, brown sugar, vanilla, pear, and dried grains.

Finish: Medium in length and warmth, with notes of dried grains, vanilla, caramel, and a touch of both dried red fruits and fresh pears.

Thoughts: I’m neutral on this one. I'd love a touch less dried grain on all aspects of this. That said, this is not a flaw but a personal preference, and by no means do I think this should keep anyone from trying it—especially since there are a lot of people who enjoy the grain-forward style of bourbon. I do find it fun, though, that the final notes to fade are "wine" notes of pear and red fruit. Thematically, that’s just about perfect for a wine-cask-finished bourbon.

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Woodinville Founder's Find Whiskey from a Bourbon Mash

Purchase Info: This sample was sent for review purposes at no cost. The suggested retail price is $129.99.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $8.67

Details: 96% Tennessee whiskey aged for 12 years in reconditioned barrels (used and recharred) and 4% 15-year-old Indiana bourbon. 53.5% ABV.

Nose: Cinnamon, Flintstone Vitamins, and a touch of red fruit and oak.

Mouth: Caramel, cinnamon, red fruit, and oak notes follow a rich, thick mouthfeel.

Finish: Warm and long with notes of oak, leather, cinnamon, caramel, and red fruit.

Thoughts: The bottle says that the whiskey that the Woodinville founder discovered in Tennessee was "too extraordinary not to share." I agree with that sentiment wholeheartedly. This may not technically be a bourbon, but it has all the notes and characteristics that you would want in one. So much so that, even though I poured a glass after receiving the sample, I didn't notice that it was a "whiskey from a bourbon mash" until I went to record the details in my tasting notes. It's damn good. Lots of "dark" flavor notes and a rich mouthfeel. Really liking 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.

Nearest Green Tennessee Whiskey

I’d like to thank Nearest Green Distillery and their PR team for providing this review sample with no strings attached.

In the last giveaway, I asked readers what they were looking for in future reviews. And I heard you. You all want more inexpensive whiskey. Who doesn’t?

The producers, that’s who. They really want you to know about the whiskeys that come with a suggested retail price of $5, $6, $7, or even up to $12 per pour! Personally, I don’t like paying that much. But, beggars can’t be choosers when it comes to samples. If they want me to taste expensive whiskey, I’m on board. I mean, who am I to argue about free whiskey? But you all want to learn more about the whiskeys that live at a price point I would personally pay. Now, if you’re like me, Wild Turkey 101 at about a buck-sixty per pour is pretty much the perfect price point.

So yes, I heard you. And it turns out that the folks at Nearest Green Distillery have heard you too. Their most recent release, which will be showing up in stores soon, was created with inclusivity in mind. With a suggested retail price just under $2 per pour, they are hoping to reach an audience they haven’t previously reached—namely, those who don’t want to spend a fortune for a decent whiskey. I’ll let them speak for themselves:

“Nearest Green Tennessee Whiskey captures the spirit of my great-great-grandfather, Nearest Green, while still upholding our pillars of excellence and unmatched quality,” said (Master Blender) Victoria Eady Butler. “With this new brand, we’re not just expanding our offerings—we’re expanding the Uncle Nearest family, reaching new consumers who may not consider spending more than $50 on a bottle. Our goal is simple: To make Nearest Green a household name, bringing people together to honor our past while embracing the future of Tennessee Whiskey.”

Sounds good to me. Let’s see how it tastes, shall we?

Nearest Green Tennessee Whiskey

Purchase Info: This was provided by the producer at no cost for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $29.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $2.00

Details: 42% ABV.

Nose: Honey, mint, cotton candy, and a touch of oak.

Mouth: Nutmeg, cinnamon spice, honey, and vanilla.

Finish: Medium in length and warmth. Notes of oak, cinnamon, and caramel.

Thoughts: This is a really nice whiskey. There’s just enough bitterness on the finish to make you want to take another taste. It has more spice than I would have expected from an 84-proof whiskey, but at the same time, it offers a pleasant sweetness to balance the spice. And it works pretty well in an old fashioned if you’re craving one.

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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.

Uncle Nearest 777 Anniversary Blend – The Lost Chapter, Plus a Book Giveaway

This review sample was kindly provided by the PR team for Uncle Nearest Whiskey with no strings attached.

Well, I’m back! I hope no one missed me too much (though, selfishly, I do hope you missed me a little). Vacation was fun. I drove to Maine and realized that the Maine coast looks a lot like Minnesota's North Shore—if Lake Superior had tides and crashing surf, which was pretty cool. I love visiting Minnesota’s North Shore.

Tonight, we're looking at a whiskey sample I received before vacation: the latest release from Uncle Nearest, the 777 Anniversary Blend, nicknamed the Lost Chapter. This 7-year-old, barrel-strength whiskey is bottled between 110-120 proof and celebrates the seventh anniversary of Uncle Nearest’s launch. Only 7,000 bottles were available for sale. I say "were" because it seems to be sold out online. That’s my bad for taking a vacation!

But the folks at Uncle Nearest didn’t just send me this whiskey to talk about the liquid; they also were hoping that I’d mention the best-selling book by Uncle Nearest founder Fawn Weaver. It’s called Love & Whiskey: The Remarkable True Story of Jack Daniel, His Master Distiller Nearest Green, and the Improbable Rise of Uncle Nearest. As a lover of books about whiskey, I’m more than happy to do so. In fact, at the end of this post, you'll find a giveaway where you can win the copy of the book featured in the photo above.

Now, let’s take a look at the whiskey, shall we?

Uncle Nearest 777 Anniversary Blend – The Lost Chapter

Purchase Info: This 50 mL sample was sent to me at no cost for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $139.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $9.27

Details: 60.85% ABV. Seven years old.

Nose: Black tea, lumber, honey, and a light grassiness.

Mouth: Nice, thick mouthfeel. Notes of cinnamon spice, almond, and caramel.

Finish: Warm and long with notes of oak, honey, and a slight mineraliness.

Thoughts: My first sip caused me to exclaim: “Ooh. that's yummy." And that's the gist of it. This is delicious. It has a lovely mouthfeel. Let's just say that, boy, do I wish there was more than 50mL in that 200 mL bottle. It's good enough that if I saw it on the shelf, I'd buy it even though the SRP is $140. It takes water well, too, which is an added bonus (it is over 120° proof, after all). Some high-proof whiskies, these days, fall apart at a lower-proof, but this is not one of them. Just a lovely product that I wish I’d thought to buy a bottle of while they still had them.

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Giveaway

Would you happen to have suggestions for things I can cover on BourobnGuy.com? Books you’ve read, questions you have, whiskies you want to share? Well, nominate them for review/answering on BourbonGuy.com. In return, you’ll be entered into the giveaway for Love & Whiskey: The Remarkable True Story of Jack Daniel, His Master Distiller Nearest Green, and the Improbable Rise of Uncle Nearest, by Fawn Weaver.

You can enter the giveaway using the form below. You only need to enter once (though you can suggest as many things as you’d like), as I’ll be tossing duplicates to make for a fair giveaway. One winner will be chosen at random. That winner will receive the book mailed to them.

Good Luck! You have until Wednesday, September 25th, 2024, 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). I do value your privacy, though, so I don’t keep the contact info you provide once the contest is over.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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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.

Hugh Hamer Double Oaked Bourbon & Hugh Hamer Rum Finished Bourbon

I’d like to thank West Fork Whiskey in Indianapolis, IN for providing these review samples with no strings attached.

Indianapolis is an easy city to drive through. Four separate Interstate Highways converge here, and with a beltway loop as part of the Interstate system, navigating through the city is quite straightforward. I know this because I’ve driven through Indianapolis on the way to other destinations more times than I can count.

However, there has only been one time that I’ve actually spent any time in the city itself. As much as I might wish it was because my beloved Golden Gophers made it to a Big Ten title game, that’s sadly not the reason I visited (and, unfortunately, I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for that to happen anytime soon either). The one time I spent an afternoon in the city, we visited the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and took a tour before continuing on to our destination in another state. Once again, I was just passing through.

I’ve spent so little time in Indianapolis that I used to joke it wasn’t even real—that it was just a figment of our collective imagination. After all, other than being an oversized crossroad, what’s the draw if you’re not there for sports or a convention? Plus, it seems almost unnaturally situated at the exact geographical center of the state. Cities don’t usually pop up where there aren’t any navigable rivers, at least not when it was founded. It’s a bit unnerving.

Of course, I’m joking, but until now, I’ve only seen Indianapolis as a milestone on a road trip to somewhere else. It reminds me too much of my home here in Minnesota to make it a place worth visiting without a specific reason. But if I ever find that reason (maybe if my Gophers ever improve their football team to the point where I have an excuse to travel… sigh), I now know of someplace worth checking out.

Tonight, we’re looking at two bourbons from West Fork Whiskey Company, a craft distillery in the area. They produce two lines of whiskey. One, the West Fork Whiskey line, is grain-to-glass, distilled in-house. The other, which we’re focusing on tonight, is the Old Hamer line, sourced from MGP in southern Indiana. They use MGP’s 99% corn/1% rye mash bill to create this line. The two bottles we’re examining are from their barrel-finished Hugh Hamer line extension. Both are non-chill filtered, aged between four and six years, and bottled at 103° proof.

Let’s dig in.

Hugh Hamer Double Oaked

Purchase Info: This bottle was sent at no cost for review purposes. It is available on the brand website for $64.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $4.33

Details: 51.5% ABV. 4- 6 years old. Mash bill: 99% corn, 1% malted barley.

Nose: Caramel, cherry, leather, and wintergreen.

Mouth: Spicy cinnamon, wintergreen, caramel, oak, and a touch of cherry.

Finish: Warm and of medium length. Notes of cinnamon, cherry syrup, dusty oak, and wintergreen.

Thoughts: Pretty darn tasty. It's spicy and sweet with nice oak and cherry notes throughout. I wasn't sure what to expect with a 99% corn mash bill, but I am really enjoying it. Quite good.

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Hugh Hamer Rum Finish

Purchase Info: This bottle was sent at no cost for review purposes. It is available on the brand website for $64.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $4.33

Details: 51.5% ABV. 4- 6 years old. Mash bill: 99% corn, 1% malted barley.

Nose: Sweet ginger and molasses. It's like a cookie.

Mouth: Funky rum and tropical notes are layered over traditional bourbon notes of caramel, baking spice and oak.

Finish: Warm and of medium length with notes of dusty oak and rum funk.

Thoughts: This is also really tasty. I really enjoy the addition of rum funk to bourbon and often will add a touch of Jamacan Rum to a glass if I want something a little different. This is even better as the rum influence is more subtle than my relatively heavy mix. I like this one too.

In fact, if you mix the two together, they are even better yet. Really enjoying these two.

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BourbonGuy.com will be off next week as we are on a real vacation with just the two of us. I won’t be traveling through Indianapolis this time and, sadly, won’t have the opportunity to visit West Fork Whiskey. But you can be assured that the next time I pass through, I will be stopping.

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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.

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.

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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