Parker’s Heritage Collection "14 Year Malt Whiskey Finished in Reconstructed Heavy Toast Cognac Barrels" Review

This year’s annual Parker’s Heritage Collection (PHC) release is now for sale – and some bourbon enthusiasts aren’t going to be happy when they hear what’s inside it. Instead of containing a bourbon, rye whiskey or wheat whisky, Heaven Hill has elected to use malt whiskey (again).

The Malt Whiskey isn’t going to be bottled up by itself like it was in 2015. For this release, Heaven Hill has finished it inside of a hybrid barrel. Let’s look at what makes those barrels special.

What is a Reconstructed Heavy Toast Cognac Barrel?

The secondary finishing barrels were made from loose Cognac cask staves and new oak staves that have been heavily toasted. A little bit of research has taught me that while Cognac casks are still made of oak, they aren’t typically charred. Getting down to the brass tacks, the finishing process happens in one big toasted oak barrel. The cooper probably alternated staves until the form of a barrel came together. Then the heads were secured and the metal hoops were attached.

*An example of what Zebra Barrels look like*

*An example of a rebuilt barrel from two different types of barrels that were combined.*

Creating barrels out of used staves is a normal occurrence for Scottish cooperages, but it’s still relatively new in American whiskey production. Only a handful of producers have used them for their whiskies – Bardstown Bourbon Company (which call theirs “Zebra” barrels) and Four Gate (which call theirs “Split Stave” barrels).

The 18th edition of Parker’s Heritage Collection

The whiskey for Parker’s Heritage Collection gets chosen by a committee each year. They are responsible for sampling a wide array of barrels and eventually narrow down the list of choices until one set of barrels is chosen. Sometimes we get really mature whiskey and other times we get crazy finishing experiments. This year happens to be the latter.

As I previously mentioned, this isn’t the first time a malt whiskey has been used in a PHC release. The last time was in 2015 for the 9th edition release. At that time, it was only 8-years-old. Heaven Hill fans were generally lukewarm to that release because American Malt Whiskey was virtually unheard of at the time (outside of Stranahan’s). Even Scotch and Irish Whiskey fans didn’t care much for it due to the use of corn in the mash bill (35% of the recipe was corn) and new charred oak barrels.

Most malt purists would agree that malt whiskey’s lighter profile is often overwhelmed in new charred oak casks. But that didn’t stop Heaven Hill from trying it again. I’m speculating here, but it appears like the tasting panel at Heaven Hill made a point to try and neutralize the strong barrel influence. The strategy seemed to be finishing it in barrels that would lessen the impact of the new charred oak. The hybrid cask that I just talked about seemed to do the trick by overwhelming it with softer notes.

A total of 128 barrels of malt whiskey were pulled from upper floors of Rickhouses O and Q and blended together. The batch was then used to fill up 56 Cognac/Toasted Stave hybrid barrels. If you’re wondering why it took more than 2 barrels worth of malt whiskey to fill up a single hybrid barrel, then wonder no more. First there was plenty of evaporation loss after aging for 14 years and second was the fact the hybrid barrels ended up being larger than a standard 53 gallon barrel after construction. The whiskey rested for 4 months before being declared done.

So how does this new Parker’s release taste? Thanks to Dawn (a real bourbon OG in the Indianapolis scene), I’m getting the chance to find out. I sampled this neat in a glencairn.

Tasting Notes

Nose: A light and malty nose surrounded by cognac sweetness and light brown sugar. Scents of vanilla candle, ground cinnamon and a new leather baseball mitt provide layers of depth. Fruit notes like raisins, chopped apricot pieces and faint lemon and orange citrus notes likely come from the mixture of cognac cask influence and malted barley.

Palate: The Cognac influence is apparent from the start. I’m finding flavors of white grape juice, raisins, prunes and dates. The whiskey also has a pleasant mix of malted cereal grains, vanilla and toasted marshmallow (probably from the toasted oak staves). I find a flavor similar to Lemon Pledge (wood cleaner) and some slightly astringent oak. Buttery new leather helps save the tannic side of this whiskey from being a little bit too bitter or astringent. Interestingly, I’m finding a bit of floral flavors hidden behind other stronger flavors, but it helps round it out.

Finish: Lingering layers of honeyed sweetness, vanilla pudding, grape marmalade, cinnamon raisin bread and a moderate amount of oak. Everything works well together and there are no bad notes to be found. The finish is the only time where I truly feel like I’m drinking a malt whiskey.

Score: 8.3/10

One big similarity between this year’s PHC release and last year’s release (a 10-year-old rye whiskey) is that both are excellent whiskies on their own but taste nowhere near the whiskey type that’s on the label. To clarify, last year’s rye whiskey had amazing depth and flavor but tasted almost nothing like a rye whiskey (it was more like a really fruity bourbon). This year’s malt whiskey had a surprising array of flavors that all seemed to work well together but tasted nothing like a traditional malt whiskey.

The big question in all of this is how should a whiskey be judged? By its merits alone or how well it represents the category it’s classified in? In the case of the 18th edition of Parker’s Heritage, what I tasted felt like a whole new category of distilled spirits. And while I know there are many people who will say “if it’s good, who cares?” there are also many people who won’t even touch a whiskey if it’s not a style they like. If that wasn’t true, then I’d see a lot more bourbon drinkers with Amrut, Kavalan, Starward and Milk & Honey bottles in their cabinets.

Final Thoughts

I feel like I could copy/paste my final thoughts from last year’s Parker’s Heritage review because the words still ring true. If you’re only concerned about drinking interesting, well-crafted whiskies (regardless of type) then this year’s PHC is a bottle you’ll enjoy.

If you’re a malt purist or an enthusiast who thinks that malted barley should only be 14% or less of a mash bill, then this bottle probably isn’t for you. Still, I would encourage everyone in the latter category to open up their world and give this bottle a shot. If nothing else, it shows how different a whiskey can be when its producers decide to throw the rulebook out the window and focus on making something that tastes terrific – even if it doesn’t align with your idea of what that whiskey should taste like.