Square 6 Wheated Bourbon Review

By Richard Thomas

Rating: B

(Credit: Heaven Hill Distillery)

Perhaps the most perplexing thing about the feverish madness that surrounds Pappy van Winkle and all things Buffalo Trace is how in that fever, the Buffalo Trace-obsessives have blinded themselves to all the good wheated bourbon made at other distilleries. Wheated bourbon is literally the only thing Maker’s Mark does, as does Heaven Hill. Yet not only does Heaven Hill make wheated bourbon, but once upon a time, their Bernheim Distillery was a source for Pappy van Winkle.

Square 6 Wheated Bourbon was not made there, however. The Square 6 brand consists of whiskeys made at Heaven Hill’s tourist destination distillery in downtown Louisville, the Evan Williams Experience. As such, the brand is made by people with Heaven Hill know-how (distillery manager Charlie Downs is such a Heaven Hill veteran, he is the only company employee to have worked at all three Heaven Hill plants, past and present), but on a craft scale.

That is reflected quite well in this particular bottle. The bourbon is a blend of two different stocks, one made with a 74% corn, 16% wheat, and 10% malted barley mash and the other with a 68% corn, 20% wheat, 12% malted barley mash. The latter is the standard Heaven Hill mash bill, so the former is the experiment that dials back on the wheated aspect. It’s bottled at 105 proof.

The Bourbon
The nose on this reminded me a great deal of the kind of cornbread I would encounter in Europe, which was still mostly wheat, with melted brown sugar and caramel drizzle notes added in. On the palate, that Euro cornbread was baked into a dry cracker, taking on a bit of musty ship’s biscuit character for good measure, with the notes evolving to candy corn, dried berries and vanilla. On the finish, some dry pepper arrives and takes that sweet side by the hand, and the two slowly walk off into the sunset.

The Price
Expect to pay $90 a bottle for this item.