Heaven Hill 7 Year Old Bottled In Bond Bourbon Review

By Richard Thomas

Rating: B

When Heaven Hill discontinued their 6 Year Old Bottled in Bond Bourbon, a Kentucky-only release, the decision was greeted with mourning. Even though the expression was always a nod to the distillery’s home state and its diehard bourbon drinking populace, it had become popular with enthusiasts everywhere as a whiskey that punched well above its weight and at the totally throwback price of under $20 a bottle. Those plying the Kentucky Bourbon Trail who were in the know picked up a bottle (or case) to take home.

Keeping that in mind, its discontinuance was inevitable, but bourbon fans were displeased all the same. What happened next was also rather expected: a year later, Heaven Hill reintroduced the expression on a national basis, completed with a revamped look and a higher price tag. Despite putting a sweetener on that pill (the age statement went up from 6 to 7 years), to quote Bobby Childs about the social media reaction: “the new expression was the equivalent of Yoko breaking up the band.”

Overlooked by pretty much all other whiskey pundits was what was missing from the new expression. The Heaven Hill Old Style 6 Year Old BiB Bourbon was a charcoal-filtered whiskey, receiving said treatment after the barrels were dumped ala Ezra Brooks and the discontinued Jim Beam Green Label.

The Bourbon
In the glass, HH 7YO BiB (ha!) has a viscous, middle amber appearance. Coating the glass leaves behind thick legs that take their sweet, slow time in dropping.

The nose packed roasted sweet corn and vanilla up front, before making a swift transition to spicy, musty oak. On the palate, the liquid doesn’t feel nearly as thick as the look of it suggested, but the flavor is what the nose suggests, only much better balanced. Sitting on the tongue hand in hand are a fruit-sweet, vanilla and toffee aspect, and a baking spice, pepper and musty wood aspect. The finish, however, starts with the latter half and runs with it.

My opinion is that folks looking for a bourbon with some of that old Elijah Craig 12 Year Old character or something more reliable than the increasingly scarce Henry McKenna 10 Year Old should give the Heaven Hill 7 Year Old Bottled in Bond Bourbon a look. I like it more than the Elijah Craig NAS and the pricing is comparable.

The Price
Speaking of pricing, this new bourbon is supposed to go for $39.99.