Heaven Hill Grain to Glass Bourbon (2024 Release)

76

Nose is both sweet and spicy with cinnamon bear candy, vanilla, caramel, cedar, ginger, nutmeg, green apple, fresh baked bread, and clove. Ethanol very high for a 107 proof product which I found to be distracting. Palate opens with toasted marshmallow, rye spice, nougat, caramel, and applesauce, followed by a usual suspects spice bloom of cinnamon, clove, allspice, and nutmeg. Decent richness and complexity. Medium length finish brings some nicely aged oak, cinnamon, black peppercorn, root beer, chili pepper, tobacco, barrel char, mint, and walnut. Mouthfeel is weighty to the point of being downright chewy, but also a bit of youthful graininess as well. A pretty darn good high rye bourbon but with some minor flaws and I can’t help but wonder what 2-4 more years in the barrel might have done here. As it stands, I paid a wild $104.99 for this and while I do like it; i just don’t like it for the price. Not a rebuy.

I didnt expect this to taste like anything else from Heaven Hill, and I was right. Thr nosedoes bring some sweet caramel, but largely brings rye spice notes, cardamom, clove, nutmeg and mint. Overall, very mild. Palate starts with new oak, spices following. A lot of pepper. Finish is mixed. Reads youbger than i thought it would. I wobder if another few years in the barrel would ease the tannins and bring more flavor depth. Over all, a good concept, abd interesting bottle, but i feel no urge to buy another.