Heaven Hill’s Newest Unicorn Whiskey Is a 10-Year-Old Cask Strength Rye
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Heaven Hill just announced details of the new edition of its Parker’s Heritage Collection, the top-tier whiskey line from this venerable Kentucky distillery. This time the liquid is pretty straightforward—a 10-year-old rye whiskey bottled at cask strength—but that surely won’t stop collectors from snapping this bottle up.
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Parker’s Heritage Collection is named after the late Heaven Hill master distiller Parker Beam who was diagnosed with ALS in 2010. A portion of the proceeds from this 17th edition, like past releases, will go to benefit ALS research. Since 2013, the distillery says it has raised more than a million dollars for the cause. So what’s in this new bottle? As mentioned before, this is a 10-year-old rye made in the Kentucky style from a mashbill of 51 percent rye, 35 percent corn, and 14 percent malted barley. According to Heaven Hill, the whiskey was barreled in August, October, or December of 2012. If you are a whiskey fan who really likes to get into the weeds of the terroir and climate of maturation, the barrels were located on the first floors of Rickhouses H1 and H2, the fifth floor of Rickhouse FF, the third and seventh floors of Rickhouse BB, and the second floor of Rickhouse DD. Lastly, the whiskey is non-chill filtered and bottled at cask strength of 128.8 proof.
Each edition of Parker’s Heritage Collection is different—some are more traditional whiskeys while others veer more toward the experimental. For example, last year’s release was a blend of 15-year-old bourbon and double-barreled 13-year-old bourbon, 2018 unveiled a bourbon finished in orange Curaçao barrels, 2015 was a malt whiskey, and 2021 was a wheat whiskey aged in heavily charred barrels. A 10-year-old rye whiskey, even at cask strength, is not necessarily the most unique innovation in the whiskey world, but it all comes down to the flavor. We got to try a sample of this whiskey, and it’s a richly flavored rye that definitely comes in hot. Once that alcohol burn subsides, there are nice notes of candied orange, peach jelly, vanilla, caramel, black pepper, and cayenne. A little bit of water would go a long way here, but this whiskey will be worth the price for dedicated fans of this Heaven Hill collection and high-proof rye whiskeys.
Speaking of which, the SRP is $185 for this allocated release which goes on sale next month. But you can still find previous years’ releases for sale (for wildly inflated prices) like the 2021 expression from Wine.com and the 2018 cask-finished expression from Drizly. It’s never too late to start your own collection!
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