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Originally posted by Frank Rathburn
- DISTILLER: Heaven Hill Distillery
- MASH BILL: 78% Corn | 10% Rye | 12% Malted Barley
- AGE: 7-8 Years, then aged for four months in barrels that previously held French orange curaçao liqueur
- YEAR: 2018
- PROOF: 110 (55% ABV) | NCF (non-chill filtered)
- MSRP: $89.99
Nose: Orange fruit, seared into my brain. Specifically: a piece of orange peel, coated with raw sugar, and then lit with a blow torch for a few seconds. It's very nice but unlike bourbon.
Palate: Hard downshift to 2nd gear from 5th. Startling. Expecting sweet and juicy fruit flavors but am hit with a very dry whiskey palate and a workman's bourbon profile. Peanut shell is the main flavor. The rest of Heaven Hill's core bourbon flavor profile shows up (vanilla, sawdust) before the orange ramps back in on the end palate.
Finish: Hello again, orange. A very pleasing orange-based finish, as if that bourbon in the palate was all a bad dream, or as if this really was never a bourbon at all...
Overall it's a sandwich of orange peels and dry roasted peanuts. The orange is lovely but paired with a very dry and savory bourbon. A lumberjack enjoys an orange cordial. I feel like Heaven Hill's bourbon doesn't compliment an orange finish and something like off the shelf Buffalo Trace would kill with this finish. But I love unique and fascinating whiskies that fill a niche I didn't know existed, and this is that. Despite the strange flavor combo I don't dislike it - I enjoy it and am fascinated by it. But that only happened once I let go of trying to drink bourbon.
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