Heaven Hill has created two “Grain to Glass” whiskeys – a Bourbon and a Rye Whiskey. I have had these bottles for some time now and Matt and I did a YouTube video on them back in March. We finally got around to tasting them for the blog the other day. My apologies to Heaven Hill for taking so long. They are very good whiskeys and we should have written our tasting notes sooner. Here are our tasting notes.
Heaven Hill Grain to Glass Bourbon
Proof: 107
Age: Seven Years Old
Nose:
- Mike: Vanilla, apple, nutmeg and oak wood.
- Matt: Vanilla, cotton candy, rye grass, crème soda and oak wood.
Taste:
- Mike: Vanilla, apple, cinnamon, nutmeg and oak wood. Tasted with a dried cranberry and the vanilla becomes a rich French vanilla. Tasted with a pecan and the vanilla becomes caramel with lots of nutmeg.
- Matt: Vanilla latte, rye grass, cotton candy and oak wood. The dried cranberry brought out lemon zest in the flavor. The pecan brought out caramel and brown sugar.
Finish:
- Mike: Medium long with oak wood and cinnamon and nutmeg. The dried cranberry added lingering vanilla to the finish. The pecan made the finish long and dry with oak wood and baking spices.
- Matt: Medium long with oak wood and lemon zest. The cranberry added brown sugar to the finish. The pecan made the finish long with oak, brown sugar and lingering vanilla.
Heaven Hill Grain to Glass Rye Whiskey
Proof: 123.2
Age: Seven Years Old
Nose:
- Mike: Rye grass, vanilla, banana, baking spices and oak wood.
- Matt: Vanilla, banana bread, cinnamon and oak wood.
Taste:
- Mike: Rye grass, vanilla, banana, oranges zest, cinnamon and oak wood. The dried cranberry added nutmeg to the spice and enhanced the vanilla. The pecan made the vanilla a rich caramel with lots of oak wood.
- Matt: Vanilla, rye grass, banana, orange zest and oak wood. The dried cranberry enhanced the orange zest. The pecan brought out caramel and raisins.
Finish:
- Mike: Medium long with oak wood, orange zest and cinnamon. The dried cranberry made the finish longer. The pecan made the finish long with oak wood, cinnamon and lingering caramel.
- Matt: Medium long with oak wood, cinnamon and banana. The dried cranberry added lingering vanilla. The pecan made the finish long with oak wood, caramel and raisins.
I would pair these fine whiskeys with a Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial cigar. The rich vanilla and cedar spice in the smoke would bring out the vanilla and spice in the whiskeys.
Photos Courtesy of Rosemary Miller