Heaven Hill’s Heritage Collection has started the 2023 limited-release calendar off with a substantial bang, and a nod to one of the distillery’s most popular bargain whiskeys. This year’s release, Heaven Hill Kentucky Straight Corn Whiskey, is aged for 20 years and comprises 80 percent corn, 12 percent malted barley, and 8 percent rye for a little spice.
Friends and fans of the Heaven Hill portfolio will remember this 80 percent figure as belonging to Mellow Corn—a corn whiskey with no age statement and, typically, a price tag under $20.
This Heritage Collection release, however, is a totally different game. Two decades of further mellowing have made this whiskey something entirely unexpected. Unlike Mellow Corn, which has a rather fresh-and-sweet-forward flavor profile, Heaven Hill describes this 20-year-old whiskey as having a nose of toasted corn and spices as well as notes of oak and walnuts, wood spices, and hints of corn sweetness on the palate.
At 115 proof, Heaven Hill Kentucky Straight Corn Whiskey is substantially different in alcohol by volume, but its pedigree is also notable: The entire release came from just 110 barrels filled in October 2002, from the third floor of one warehouse: Rickhouse 1K.
A typical bourbon barrel contains just 53 gallons when it’s filled, and can lose around 6 percent of its contents to evaporation each year, so those 110 barrels were unlikely to be all that full when they were pulled for bottling. Heaven Hill didn’t share how many bottles they’d created of this whiskey, but we’d be surprised if it were more than a few thousand.
Heaven Hill’s Heritage Collection has only been around for a few years, but with a wide range of aged whiskeys, it’s already become a highlight each spring. As the weather begins to warm, it’ll be a little less unpleasant for you to line up for a chance to get your hands on one.
But where will you find it? Hell if we know. Heaven Hill says this Heritage Collection release will launch on March 1 nationally, but we suspect limited volumes won’t exactly fill a shelf anywhere.
This is a one-of-a-kind, ultra-aged Kentucky whiskey—even when compared to the other ultra-aged Kentucky whiskeys produced by Heaven Hill—and we don’t expect to see another batch like this for a few years at the very least. So that $290 price point is probably fair (especially if you like corn whiskeys) and will almost certainly climb higher on March 2.
from Men's Journal https://ift.tt/D6hvgzt
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