Review: Heaven Hill Deatsville Bourbon 13 Years Old
Heaven Hill‘s Deatsville campus is on the verge of being decommissioned, so if you want the chance to taste whiskey from these rickhouses — and only from these rickhouses — you better act fast.
This 13 year old offering is drawn from “one of the most distinctive aging sites in the distillery’s 90-year history.” It’s a standard Heaven Hill bourbon — 78% corn, 10% rye, and 12% malted barley — that spent 13 years on the third floor of Rickhouse AA. Just 17 barrels were pulled for this release as it “transitions out of active aging.” (To give you an idea of how small that is, the capacity of Deatsville is a whopping 167,000 barrels.)
Per HH:
It is the only Heaven Hill barrel aging campus constructed with tiered roof architecture, a distinctive design that promotes a natural stack effect, allowing warm air to rise and escape while drawing cooler air inward through lower openings. This airflow dynamic creates subtle differences in maturation, contributing to Deatsville’s signature influence within Heaven Hill’s aging inventory.
Fret not. Heaven Hill has five more campuses to use for its extensive collection of barrels, so the flow of Old Fitzgerald, Elijah Craig, and Larceny shall not be interrupted by the closure.
So, while you ponder the ephemeral nature of life and whiskey, consider our comments on this bourbon release.
Heaven Hill Deatsville Bourbon 13 Years Old Review
There’s an immediate butterscotch and peanut brittle sweetness on the nose in this whiskey, something I wouldn’t immediately connote with Heaven Hill, which classically tends toward more charry, rye-forward aromatics. Here it comes across with notes of almonds, baking spice, menthol, and an aroma that’s tougher to place — floral and perfumed, somewhere between jasmine and sandalwood. There’s a clear dill here note too, particularly visible as the whiskey opens up a bit.
The palate is effusively sweet, again not connoting a 13 year old spirit, though it’s more in line with Heaven Hill’s often sweeter house style. Those butterscotch notes are far more intense on the tongue, with vanilla custard and some lemon curd underpinning them. Caramel and chocolate here are both quite soft, a gentle landing for a finish that leans into nougat, marzipan, brown banana, and the clearest punch of rye spice to emerge throughout the experience. Still, all that sugar lingers. Sip on this one to enjoy the most expensive dessert you’ve ever encountered.
109 proof.
A- / $200
Heaven Hill Deatsville Bourbon 13 Years Old
USD200
