Laws Whiskey House 7 Year Old Bottled In Bond Wheat Whiskey

By Richard Thomas

Rating: B+

Laws Bonded 7 Years Old Centennital Wheat Whiskey
(Credit: Laws Whiskey House)

The question I find myself asking lately is when will Denver’s Laws Whiskey House hit the limit on their progressively older bonded whiskey releases? Although bottled in bond expressions are now fairly common in the craft whiskey sector, Laws has one-upped the game by often raising the age statement on their expressions with successive releases. Regulations require bonded whiskeys to be at least four years old, but they can be older. The 2021 Bonded Centennial Wheat Whiskey was a five year old (which I reviewed and gave high marks). After skipping 2022, they’ve come back with a seven year old.

This is a 100% wheat mash bill whiskey, and it uses white Centennial wheat (hence the name) as opposed to the usual red winter wheat. That wheat is sourced from a farm in Colorado. As a bonded whiskey, it is bottled at 100 proof. The production run for this release is 2,100 bottles.

Another thing to note about Laws 7 Year Old Bonded Wheat Whiskey is that its actually tying Bernheim Original for age. Wheat whiskey is pretty much the province of Heaven Hill plus a small collection of craft distillers, and heretofore none of them have approached the Kentucky Major for maturation. That matters even more when you consider that Bernheim is a Kentucky style wheat whiskey, which is to say it is just scarcely over the mandated 51% wheat content, quite unlike what Laws is doing.

The Whiskey
This pour has has a copper coloring, with amber highlights. It shares the floral nose of its younger relations, but whereas those whiskeys were airy, this one is thick. The crisp wildflowers and herbs are weighed down by a blanket of vanilla. That heightened new oak influence continues on in the palate, which has a hefty layer of caramel. Yet this is in better balance on the palate than it was on the nose, because the herbal/floral aspect is also stronger. Orange zest and notes of cinnamon and pepper join the fray as well. The finish opens woody, with a grain of pepper for good measure.

People who know will tell you that more aging isn’t necessarily a good thing, and a production process often has a sweet spot. My opinion is that for Centennial Whiskey, this was back around five years. This new batch is good stuff, make no mistake, but I found the lighter, airy character of its younger predecessor gave it room to express more complexity. In this instance, the extra couple of years just put more of the barrel into the whiskey, and I think the vanilla flavors coming out of that stepped on the toes of the actual spirit.

The Price
Officially, this is priced at $79.99.