Heaven’s Door (Tennessee Bourbon)

Nose: A little bit of spice and a bit of a “clean smell”. Not the smell of a cleaning product, just a crisp almost “fresh” smell. Yeah, I know…what the hell does that mean? Again, my nose ain’t that great, so I gotta say something! Palate: When you swirl this one around the glass, you can see some pretty serious legs, so it was no surprise that is has a very nice, oily and rich mouthfeel. You get a nice touch of spiciness, but tempered with a nice, very mellow, sweetness. It definitely isn’t over the top sweet, but it has a very nice hint of it. I also picked some light doughy or bready tastes. The finish hits you with some more spiciness in the back of your throat. There is no heat or harsh burn and the tail end warming is pretty light. Overall, I think “rich and mellow” might be a good description. Further sipping brought out some pepper and maybe some raisin. Comments: Heaven’s Door is put out by musician Bob Dylan, who started his distillery in 2015 and it is a collaboration between Dylan and a co-founder of Angel’s Envy. Up until now, the whiskey has been sourced from Tennessee but they will eventually be bottling their own stuff from a distillery that is in an old church in Nashville, TN. They have several versions (the others being a Rye and a “Double Barrel Whiskey”), so keep in mind that this review is for the 90 proof bourbon (and, yes, they can call it bourbon even if it isn’t made in KY - Reportedly, it is NOT made in the Lincoln County (TN) charcoal filtering process). Heaven’s Door states that their bourbon spends a minimum of 8 years in the barrel. Not from them, but this reportedly has a mash bill of 70% corn. Internet bourbon detectives have identified the likely distillery from which is it sourced as the Pennington Distilling Company, who puts out Davison Reserve with a 70% corn, 25% rye, 5% malted barley mash bill. [NOTE: I have some of that Davidson Reserve (I think), so I’ll try to put it on “the list”.] I’m usually skeptical about stuff that is promoted by a famous person. Usually, it is crap that that person is making a ton of money from with little regard for quality. That said, I like this one. I think it is well balanced. IF the mash bill above is correct, it would definitely explain the spiciness I get from this one. AND…the 70% would explain the sweetness, so maybe I got this one right, for a change! I got this bottle pretty early on in their release (three years ago?) and it was on sale for $45. A bit pricey and maybe not worth that, but I suspect (if it hasn’t already) that the price will come down on this. It has already. My brother went to NY City when this first came out because that was one of the few places you could get it. I think he paid close to $100 for it (he was buying it for someone else - he’s not a bourbon guy……although…..he did steal my Pappy 12…..that’s a story for another day….be sure to remind me, in the event you haven’t heard the story). Bottom line: I’d keep an eye on this one. It might be a great choice to pick up at a dollar day sale, when I assume it would be priced more reasonably in the $30ish range.