The Bootleg Sequence from Heaven’s Door, now in its fourth iteration, at all times comes full with three issues: a portray from Bob Dylan, an exquisite bespoke leather-based case, and an eye-popping asking worth. The liquid composition of every collection entry, nevertheless, is at all times completely different. For this newest version the model has taken 11 year-old wheated bourbon and completed it in Islay Scotch casks earlier than bottling it at 111 proof.
Whereas it could appear to be a curious choice at first to pair a usually delicate bourbon mash invoice with casks from one among Scotch whiskey’s most expressive areas, the selection instantly pays dividends on the nostril. Right here a refined smokiness enhances cooked apple and basic wheated bourbon aromas. It isn’t stuffed with notably dense aromas, although it is stuffed with inviting ones that supply additional notes of white chocolate, salted caramel, and a dusty high quality usually related to a lot older whiskeys.
As soon as the glass passes your lips and introduces the whiskey to your palate it will get very Scotch-forward because the iodine and smoke come streaking over the tongue earlier than they’re tempered by notes of nutmeg, plum pores and skin, and tobacco leaf. It’s at midpalate the place vanilla ice cream and the aforementioned white chocolate flakes discover their footing and lengthen via the end, which reintroduces the tobacco leaf and barely ashen side of the primary sip. Whereas it initially surprises as a result of Islay affect being extra pronounced on the palate than it’s on the nostril, every sip quickly settles into an appetizing stability between the comfortable and flippantly candy notes of wheated bourbon and the brooding smokiness of its ending cask.
Whereas the packaging for Heaven’s Door Bootleg Sequence Vol. IV is sort of ornate and the whiskey contained inside represents a most satisfying mélange of two distinctly completely different areas, one might simply savor the latter with out struggling the previous if it meant a extra approachable worth level. Like many whiskeys priced within the triple-digit vary, the bells and whistles are good, however the whiskey alone fails to command the related price regardless of being a somewhat satisfying experiment.
111 proof.
A- / $500 / heavensdoor.com [BUY IT NOW FROM CASKERS]
Heaven’s Door Bootleg Sequence Vol. IV
$500
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