We spent a good portion of last Sunday hanging out with our whiskey friends Steve and Cas from the Hearts2Tails Podcast. We talked about whiskey, we drank whiskey, and generally we just shot the shit for like 3 hours (don’t worry, the episode isn’t that long). While planning what we wanted to discuss on the show we decided to send each other some samples to review together, and since I had just picked up a bottle of the 10th Edition of Parker’s Heritage, it seemed like a perfect candidate. Here’s what Heaven Hill had to say about this year’s release:

The 2016 edition, the tenth in the series, features two separate versions of the Bottled-in-Bond product, expected to be the oldest Bottled-in-Bond in the world. It was produced in Fall 1990 and Spring 1991 at Heaven Hill’s distillery in Bardstown, KY, (D.S.P. KY-31), which was later destroyed in 1996 by fire along with seven rickhouses and over 90,000 barrels. The liquid is bottled by season in order to retain its Bottled-in-Bond designation.

While Heaven Hill now produces its award-winning Bourbon and American Whiskey out of the Bernheim Distillery in downtown Louisville, this Parker’s Heritage Collection edition will feature the original distillery designation on the back label, making it a worthy successor to the previous nine releases.

Bottled at 100 proof (50% abv) and non-chill filtered, the Bourbon will retain more of the natural esters and fatty acids that have matured in the barrel for almost a quarter of a century, providing a richer mouthfeel. Oak flavor is prominent with hints of cinnamon and vanilla, rounded out by a clean finish with a hint of chocolate.

Packaged in the same upscale 750ml bottle as the previous nine editions but with a cream colored label, the Parker’s Heritage Collection 24-Year-Old Bottled-in-Bond Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey bottling reflects the care and craftsmanship of its contents.

I thought it would be fun to compile all of our notes and have each person give a rating. So, here are the results. If you want to hear a less composed version of this (since this was the last thing we did on the show after a fair amount of drinking), check out the episode here or download it on iTunes!

Company: Heaven Hill

Distillery: Heaven Hill

Location: Bardstown, KY

Mash Bill: ?

Age: 24 Years

ABV: 50% (100 proof)

Release: Fall 2016

Price: $186 ($250 MSRP)

Color: Amber

Nose: It’s obvious this is some old juice as the aroma has lots of that funky fruit punch going on. Kate dialed in a pickle vibe as well which we all noticed once she said it. Cas picked up some nice floral things and Steve mentioned some leather baseball glove action as it opened up. There were also some more conventional notes like vanilla, cinnamon, and sweet oak.

Taste: The first thing that Steve said was that it reminded him of some old dusties he’s tried recently due to the funky, musty qualities. He did, however, mention that those flavors came across in a better way than in the old bottles. There is also a ton of the fruit punch barrel funk, caramel, and I got a lot of cherry candy flavor out of it. It’s nowhere close to an oak bomb which is surprising given its age. The oak is nicely in balance with everything else.

Finish: The oak comes out a bit more here but still not too much. The pickle thing comes back too along with the cherry candy lingering from the taste.

Overall: This an old, sweet, well-balance pour. We all liked it and were glad of the fact that it doesn’t destroy your palate with dry oak. It’s sweet and complex and we talked about it for a loooong time. I felt like we could have sat there and pick out new flavors all day…because we almost did.

Make sure to go check out the episode here, and I apologize in advance if I made very little sense or got too annoying towards the end. Much Bourbon was had and I was having way to much fun nerding out about it. Cheers!

Steve’s Rating: 3.5/5

Cas’ Rating: 3.5/5

Kate’s Rating: 4/5

Kris’ Rating: 4/5