Parker’s Heritage 8 Year Malt Whiskey

2015 Parkers Heritage 8 Year Kentucky Malt Whiskey

The 9th release in the Heaven Hill Parker’s Heritage Collection is a very unique. This is unusual in that it is a Kentucky Malt that has been carefully aged for 8 years. It started life as an experimental ru so successful with their Kentucky Straight Bourbon’s and Ryes which are made with a high percentages of malt barley Master Distiller Craig Beam saw no reason why this same success could not also not work in a malt. With this concept in mind wanting to explore a new frontier he put up 141 new charred oak barrels, inside of which was a distillate made from 65% malted barley and 35% corn. Once distillation was completed, the liquid stored inside casks,placed up high in Rickhouse Y’s floor 5 and 7 until most recently it was non-chill filtered and bottled at 108 proof.

In this release which follows on in the footsteps created by last year’s very well received and much sought after Parker’s Heritage Wheat Whiskey, this year Parkers Heritage has taken on its new challenge with gusto and is now poised to make good on its fine heritage delivering the unusual and the unique, upholding old traditions of quality. It upholds another fine tradition too, one of giving and of support, donating a portion of the profit of each sale to supporting ALS Research.

Don’t be fooled by its Kentucky origins, this is no American Bourbon, nor is it a Scottish Single Malt… It is in its experience something never perhaps before experienced, one to experience having relinquished your inhibitions.

In the glass, the color is of maple syrup, glowing a rich golden-brown amber. With ice, the color becoming a little lighter and slightly cloudy. The bouquet is held back sedately, calm and mellow. It speaks clearly of its ageing. Wood and sawdust, cedar and pine, brown sugar, leather and hiding out back the merest suggestion of soft vanilla. A splash of water reveals more sweetness; citrus tangerine and poached pear, supported by creamy almonds. Warm toasty grain underpins all.

Sipped neat there is alcohol burn. The prominent flavors are of toasty and lightly charred dry wood. The wood notes continue to emerge and to open out and are layered with the same grain and malt notes present in the nose. A touch water added smooths it out enticing the sweetness of butter-soft caramel forward, laced with a gentle fruitiness of citrus and poached pears. The finish has an arid heat to it with subtle hints of smoke that is pleasant and well-lingering.