Heaven Hill 17 Year Old Heritage Collection Bourbon Review

By Richard Thomas

Rating: A

Whenever a new annual limited edition series gets started, I cross my fingers and hope the list of hard-to-get bottles has finally reached critical mass. It’s a dream of mine: that someday soon, there will be so many of these expressions out there that demand will break and one might be able to pick most of them up for their recommended retail prices. Not the Buffalo Trace stuff, mind you, but explaining the retail pricing of those bottles is beyond mere supply and demand.

Heaven Hill has kicked off just such a new annual series, The Heritage Collection, so maybe my dream will finally come true. The way I think this new expression should be seen is as an offshoot of Parker’s Heritage, taking over some territory previously covered by the distillery’s premiere annual series. Parker’s Heritage has become more experimental in recent years (the last three installments were aged in barrels with extra heavy charring, for example), but for many years the series alternated between experiments on the one hand and ultra-aged or honey barrel versions of their standard whiskeys on the other. The Heritage Collection is to be based around Heaven Hill’s standard whiskeys, and takes over the honey barrel and ultra-aged side of things. Parker’s Heritage has been an autumnal release before the hot, autumnal bourbon release season even came into being; The Heritage Collection will come out in springtime.

This inaugural release is from their 78% corn, 10% rye, and 12% malted barley bourbon stock, the same as Elijah Craig. Officially, this is a 17 year old release, but in reality almost 3/4s of the stock used in making it is older than that. Said stock came from all over Heaven Hill’s sprawling warehouse properties. As with many releases of this type, it is bottled at cask strength, in this instance 118.2 proof.

The Bourbon
This one did not require much in the way of water to bring it into line with my particular wants, that despite coming close to 120 proof. A few drops and it was ready to go. The scent has that sticky, dense kind of mustiness to it, and in that thick atmosphere it carries strong currents of cocoa powder and tart, dark fruits, with light notes of caramel and oaky spices.

The whiskey was not nearly as heavy on the palate as the nose, having a light-but-creamy mouthfeel, but still punches above it’s weight in terms of flavor. It drinks like a dark chocolate bar chock full of raisins, dried cherries and pockets of caramel, with a dusting of cookie spices on the top. An oak note rises on the back end and carries over into the finish, but one thing this ultra-aged bourbon is not is “oaky.” Keep in mind what I wrote before about how almost three quarters of what is in the bottle is actually older than 17 years; it’s surprisingly supple and un-tannic for it’s time in the barrel.

My original intent for my sample was to pour half of it to just plain enjoy at the end of an especially grueling day, and keep the other half for evaluation. My first sip changed my mind; I immediately began taking notes and poured all 200 ml that evening. Heaven Hill Heritage Collection 1st Edition is so much better than Pappy Van Winkle, it’s staggering. I enjoyed every drop, and I urge you to go find a bottle while you can still pay anything like MSRP for it.

The Price
The official price on this offering is $275. Alas, Wine-Searcher already indicates the market value is above $2,200. It seems my dream has yet to achieve fruition.