Heaven's Door Straight Tennessee Bourbon

Rating: 12/23 This won't affect my rating, but I'd like to start by noting how nice the bottle feels in my hand. It's convex in the front and concave in the back, with a slight increase in width from bottom to top. I've heard decent things about Heaven's Door. It's a celebrity brand so I don't have super high hopes, but we'll see. N: It starts off with just light corn that makes me think of something like Ancient Age, but then it adds some mellow wood like Buffalo Trace has and also a bit of tartness and even that orange flavor note that is always in Buffalo trace products. The sweet corn remains though and there's some light caramel alongside it. There's a bit of minerality as well. Buffalo Trace has a fuller flavor with more mellow age wood to it, but the corn sweetness here is actually quite nice. P: Sweet with a dry tartness underneath it. Light caramel with oranges mix with a little tannic oak that brings in a touch of cinnamon and clove. I get some of that minerality from the nose as well, but disappointingly little corn sweetness. This was clearly made with a pretty clean distillate and it also avoids an ethanol flavor, though there is a bit of burn on the front of my tongue. A little white pepper. F: A slightly more bitter note on the orange with a touch of oil, like curacao. A little light caramel remains and there's certainly minerality. A bit of the tannic wood as well. - Conclusion - This is easy drinking, but it isn't that complex or mature. It's kind of in the Ancient Age range. Side by side, Buffalo Trace definitely beats this, though not by a wide margin. I'd probably put this a little above Ancient Ancient Age 10 Star (11/23), so I think a 12 is the most reasonable rating for this. It's totally serviceable and it fills a niche, but a bourbon of this quality really shouldn't cost more than $20.

(Good Spirits Co. Glasgow – Virtual American Whiskey Tasting, 26 February 2021) This review is for the UK edition which has a slightly lower ABV of 42%. 70% corn, and a high rye content. Aged 8y/o Undisclosed distillery Nose: Berries, chocolate, oak, cherry sweets. Slightly artificial note. Palate: Vanilla, fruit, nutty and woody. Hints of buttered popcorn Finish: Vanilla, oak, sweet, burned wood, nutty, spices (cloves and black pepper). More popcorn at the end. This dram had a nice mouthfeel. There is a slightly artificial sweetness throughout. Wood and roasted nuts at the end, leaving a burned/sweet aftertaste. It’s a very easy drinking, pleasant dram, although a little forgettable. Came second out of the six whiskeys, with 20% of the final vote for favourite of the night. 70% of those present said they enjoyed the whiskey.

Appearance: copper in color, decent legs in the glass Nose:Toasted grains, caramel apple, cinnamon Palate: The mouth-feel is a little watery. Tons of oak, and a good bit of spice. Some of the sweetness of a wheater, but with accompanying spice. Finish: Medium finish with a little bit of heat. Not disappointing, but not exceptional. Thoughts: So just as a note I'm drinking the Straight Bourbon, which isn't listed on here. I got this bottle in my Flaviar selection. It's got a lot of the sweet spice of a Four Roses small batch, but none of the fruit notes. A little two dimensional. I try not to read tasting notes or mash bills when sampling, but after I checked and it's 30% rye/barley, so I feel good about my assessment. It's not bad, and I'm glad I tried it, but I won't get another bottle.

I once tasted this as I was in my infancy of being a whiskey fan. Now, with matured taste buds, I've decided to once again delve into a bottle of Heaven's Door. This isn't a complex bourbon under initial impressions. Nose was a bit astringent fresh out of the bottle, but it mellows some when you let it sit. The taste is sweet, with some brown sugar type notes. Typical of a solid if not one dimensional bourbon. And then a kiss of rye spice at the end. Surprising, because the nose and initial taste do not indicate much rye in the mash bill at all. It's a bit of a dry finish and leaves you wanting for more. An interesting bourbon and I can see why people like it. This bourbon gives you a little of everything.

Off the nose I get a sweet caramel, I am a bit concerned because my nose isn't matching my memory. I remember not enjoying this in the past but the nose smells good. Smelling it longer there is a hint of flowery perfume that comes off it. The taste doesn't follow through with the caramel for me. It is sweet and floral to me. There is a good amount of oak as well. Behind all of the nice flavors comes a bitterness. Near the end of the glencairn I found some of that caramel. The finish is shorter, but I think that follows the proof of 90. Overall, it is a pretty complex whiskey. I enjoyed it more than I remember enjoying it. I wonder if a cube just brings out more of that bitterness that lies in wait.

9Dark golden, copper hues. medium legginess, and a nice sheet left hanging on the glass. Nose is heavy with corn, barrel char, dark caramel and vanilla with a hint of baking spices. Viscous mouthfeel, mostly sweet up front. Yields to a bit of a minty/clove note before moving into a finish that bounces back and forth between char, oak, corn, and those spices. It's solid. It's bourbon's bourbon. I'd buy this again at $44 if I saw it. It seems like some more age could do it some real good in terms of balance and nuance, but all the high points are here.