Distiller: Heaven Hill

Release: 2019

Bourbon: Archives

Region: Bardstown, Kentucky

Price: $100.00

Proof: 129.2

Age:  10 years

The Barrel Cellar Score:  90 Points

Review Date: 12/16/2020

About the Bourbon: The whiskey chosen for this bottle was distilled by Heaven Hill, and carefully selected and bottled by the team at whiskybase.com. Whiskeybase.com is a large web community of whisky enthusiasts where over 100,000 whiskies are catalogued and discussed by thousands of members. As an independent bottler, Whiskybase.com goes to great lengths to ensure that the whiskies chosen are at their prime. Their selections are always bottled at cask strength and never diluted.

The bottle I am reviewing today was chosen exclusively for Binny’s Beverage Depot.

I enjoyed the whiskey for this review using a set of Prestige diamond whiskey glasses.

Color: Honey

Nose:  Cocoa nibs, almond extract, toasted coconut

Taste: Mint, cinnamon, pepper spice, peaches, mango, raspberries, honey, and a hint of fresh greens. Drop a couple of ice cubes and notes of buttered popcorn and banana taffy emerge.

Finish: Short-lived with cinnamon and oak

Assessment: The light to medium body on “archives” struggles to hold back the heat of the proof, a large punch of spice hits the palate almost immediately. It took some time for my plate to adjust, But once it did, I was able to recognize just how complex this bourbon is. There is a wide a variety of nice flavor notes, all though, take a backseat to the hefty heat and spice. The combination of high proof, light to medium body and plentiful fruit notes really make this a unique bourbon. I would expect the high proof to numb my palate to the point where flavor notes are difficult to identify, but it doesn’t; the low density and slightly oily texture may be a factor here as well, but the flavor notes shine nicely on the palate. I would call this a hidden gem.

Heaven Hill and Whiskeybase.com’s Archives is a very good Bourbon. 90 points.

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