Table Of Contents
The Details
| Rating | 90 |
| Style |
Bourbon American Whiskey Whiskey |
| Produced In |
Kentucky United States |
| ABV | 60.50% |
| Availability | Limited |
| Price | $99.00 |
| Reviewed By | |
| Review Updated | 2024-07-24 |
Heaven Hill Grain to Glass Wheated Bourbon (2024) Review
Heaven Hill’s Grain to Glass Series is a new, annual release of whiskeys highlighting esoteric grain varieties and locally grown agriculture. In addition to a high-rye bourbon and straight rye, the series includes a wheated bourbon, which we’re exploring in depth today.
Of course, Heaven Hill is no stranger to wheated bourbon mash bills. Its standard wheated recipe — seen in expressions like Larceny and the Old Fitzgerald Decanter Series — is 68 percent corn, 20 percent wheat, and 12 percent malted barley. For Grain to Glass, the wheat is dialed way up: a whopping 35 percent wheat with 52 percent corn and 13 percent malted barley to round things out.
Interestingly, the intended star of this Grain to Glass bourbon isn’t the flavoring grains, but rather the corn. Heaven Hill partnered with Indiana-based Beck’s Hybrids to develop a special corn variety — Beck’s 6158 — that was then grown locally by Kentucky-based Peterson Farms.
This year’s Grain to Glass Wheated Bourbon was aged for just over six years at Heaven Hill’s Cox’s Creek rickhouse site, situated at the highest elevation in Nelson County, Kentucky. It’s non-chill filtered and bottled at 121 proof.
Let’s dive in and see how it tastes!
Heaven Hill Grain to Glass Wheated Bourbon: Stats and Availability
Heaven Hill Grain to Glass Wheated Bourbon carries a suggested retail price of around $100 for a 700-milliliter bottle. The Grain to Glass Series will be an annual (though limited) release distributed across the United States; Heaven Hill has also stated its intention to bring some of the series to foreign markets in the coming years.
I’ve already seen bottles in this series command small premiums at retail and on the secondary market, in the range of $120-$160 per bottle. However, it seems prices are remaining relatively in check, especially since these aren’t particularly highly-aged expressions. (Though older doesn’t always mean better in whiskey, age undeniably contributes heavily to perceived value.)
Heaven Hill Grain to Glass Wheated Bourbon Review
As with all of VinePair’s whiskey reviews, this was tasted in a Glencairn glass and rested for at least five minutes.
Disclaimer: I originally sampled these three inaugural expressions on a brand media trip to Heaven Hill facilities. However, for the purposes of this review, I revisited the expression in the same controlled environment where I taste all spirits for VinePair reviews.
Nose
The nose kicks off with maraschino cherry, crushed blackberries, walnut oil, tanned leather, and pine bark mulch. It’s both richly fruity and tannic, quickly surpassing its sibling high-rye bourbon in depth and character. (The higher proof point is likely a contributing factor.)
Those dark fruit and woody components bring an early combination of aromas reminiscent of Heaven Hill’s other wheated releases. Though the mash bill has obvious differences, this bottle and Larceny Barrel Proof aren’t too far apart as far as proof and age range.
Where the Grain to Glass expression separates itself is in wheat-forward spice, which builds in intensity above and beyond most wheated bourbons under 10 years old. Cherry transitions to spicy pepper jam while keeping an undercurrent of freshly sliced bell pepper, which contributes some vegetal freshness. However, the bourbon never quite loses that walnut oil fattiness, so the brighter elements take a backseat here.
Unusually, I can sense more of the grain and base corn toward the end of the nose than at the beginning; it’s almost a reverse-order nosing experience from what I initially expected. This one has certainly captured my attention thus far!
Taste
Sweeter at first sip than on the nose, the wheated bourbon starts with a hefty dollop of butterscotch and vanilla sugar cookie. Right after that initial sweetness comes some salinity, reminiscent of heavily salted caramel. Roasted pine nuts build quickly — carried by a semi-syrupy viscosity — along with light oak that feels about right for the six year age statement.
Brighter than the nose, the initial sips tell the tale of a bourbon walking a fine line between nicely aged and truly oaked; it’s too young to be heavily tannic, and too old for fresh fruit and grain to excel above other flavors.
Peppery spice strikes around the midpalate as the sweetness evolves to cinnamon sugar. Here, the wheat shines through as more baking spice than dark fruit or cherry, though small pops of stewed apple and peach manage to show face.
Quite tasty yet a bit uncommitted in parts, this bourbon feels like it was bottled at an inflection point for age. I’d be fascinated to see what this tasted like at eight-plus years in the barrel.
Finish
The palate finds itself at a bit of a fork in the road, but the finish here is firmly pleasant. That salted caramel and cinnamon join up with oak tannins for a lengthy, satisfying final act that leaves me reaching for the glass time and again. It’s the sort of finish that elevates the entire experience well above what the nose and palate could accomplish.
Heaven Hill Grain to Glass Wheated Bourbon Rating
90/100
Recap
This much is pretty clear: The first-ever release of Heaven Hill Grain to Glass Wheated Bourbon punches above the high-rye bourbon from the same series. At times, this whiskey can feel like a work in progress; one wonders if it’d be more composed at either younger or older age statements. However, nice interplay between sweet and spicy components lead into a noteworthy finish I wanted to revisit several times. If anything, the expression made me wonder whether Heaven Hill would benefit from tinkering with this higher-wheat mash bill in a more standard release.
*Image retrieved from Heaven Hill
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