Parker’s Heritage Collection Promise of Hope (Release 7) Review

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Heaven Hill had been one of the powerhouse distilleries in Kentucky for many decades before their crippling fire in 1996. After that, it took time to rebuild their operations and get their feet back on the ground. They also got a little help from their friends (Jim Beam and Brown-Forman). It wasn’t until around 2007 that operations were finally humming along to where they once were.

Once the new-fill barrels and inventory were finally back to normal, they began to feel more confident about expanding their lineup. They looked around the whiskey landscape at what trends they could be competing with. Bourbon sales were on the rise in the United States and some companies were taking advantage of it by releasing new lines of limited-edition products.

Woodford Reserve was one of the first to recognize that consumers were willing to pay more money for those limited edition bottles. This is why they launched their Master’s Collection in 2004. Buffalo Trace wasn’t too far behind them when they added the fifth and final bottle (Thomas H. Handy) to the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection (BTAC) and also launched their Experimental Collection (BTEC) – both in 2006. What these limited edition releases did was allow consumers to taste rare and unique whiskies while also showing the companies which trends they should explore more in the future.

Heaven Hill wanted a slice of the pie, so they gave Master Distiller Parker Beam the freedom to choose an annual release of diverse whiskies that would showcase a different side to Heaven Hill that ordinary consumers might not know existed. Throughout the years that followed, Parker and his team released barrels of extremely old bourbon, wheated bourbon, blends of various whiskies and even finished whiskies. They would all wear his name on the label and would be known as Parker’s Heritage Collection.

Tragedy struck shortly before the 2013 release when Parker was diagnosed with ALS. This disease would see his time at Heaven Hill come to an end sooner than he wanted. So the decision was made to allow him to have full creative control over the 7th release. In addition to that, $20 from the sale of each bottle would be donated directly to the Association for ALS Research.

Parker’s Promise of Hope

Parker Beam had intimate knowledge of the maturation warehouses across all of Heaven Hill’s campuses. But there was one that he always came back to – his personal favorite – Rickhouse EE in Deatsville. The Deatsville campus is easy to find on the map, but there’s not much to identify which warehouse is which – even if you already knew that Maker’s Mark also owns 2 out of the 11 warehouses in the same footprint. Luckily, Jodie Filiatreau (through Bernie Lubbers) was able to help me identify which one it was for me. Here’s my map:

100 barrels of 10-year-old bourbon were plucked from the top floor of the warehouse. And while the age may not sound impressive, it should be known that allowing barrels to age at that height for that long is not normal. Most barrels are aged on the upper ricks for a shorter amount of time and end up in more entry-level batches. That’s because the aggressive heat matures the whiskey inside faster and runs the risk of having all the liquid evaporate inside.

The decision was made that Promise of Hope would be a single barrel release. However, no identifiers were listed anywhere on the label to tell them apart. This was a poor decision especially when all of the barrels were proofed down to the same 48% ABV. What this does to the reviewing community is essentially prevents any sort of consensus on which barrels are better and which are worse.

Why was it done this way? If the reason was something touching like “Parker didn’t want enthusiasts to fight over which barrel was better, he wanted us to come together and celebrate life and the promise of hope” the that’s all well and good. But no explanation was provided. In the end, the whole thing seems like either a missed opportunity on Heaven Hill’s part.

Now that the backstory is complete, let’s get down to tasting this. A special thanks to my friend JC for making this review happen. He wanted me to point out just how special this release was for him, so here you go, brother. And now I’m going to sample this neat in a glenclairn.

Tasting Notes

Nose: Sweet smelling butterscotch and beeswax open it up with scents of rich oak and cinnamon spice following behind. Hot chocolate notes tie in with the fruit notes like strawberry pie, baked orchard fruit and fresh-cut nectarines. It’s hard to put into words just how impressive this note is. It smells years older than the age statement suggests.

Palate: Continuing with the theme of the nose, this tastes 5 years older than its age statement says. It’s packed full of flavor on every sip. How did they get so much in a 96 proof bourbon? I find flavors of slightly antiqued oak, cedar cigar box and cinnamon. The chocolate and fruits combine to create what I’d call a chocolate cherry cordial. There are other fruit notes like strawberry and poached pear. Sweetness continues with vanilla marshmallow, caramel and a slight undertone of maple. There’s even a quick hit of peppermint. The mouthfeel is more viscous than I was prepared to find. This is delicious!

Finish: Lingering notes of cinnamon, a touch of cherry licorice and sweetness from caramel and maple. The tannins revolve around well-balanced oak and cigar box. Unfortunately, most of the bolder flavors drop off quickly when the sip is done, but the ones I listed still hang around for a bit.

Score: 8.6/10

I came into this review expecting to find a completely overrated bourbon that only got its reputation based on the name of the bottle. Boy was I wrong. The nose on this was simply incredible, easily rivaling other labels with more prestige. The flavors were also well beyond my expectations. It was only the somewhat weak finish that dropped my final score by a few tenths of a point.

My initial criticism of this bottle is coming back full circle. What I expected to find was a lackluster bourbon. Then I’d write about it only to have my readers come back and tell me that I must have got a bad single barrel. But now that I am so impressed by it, I’m wondering to myself if there were even any average barrels in the bunch. Surely there would have been, but my overall impression remains very high.

Final Thoughts

There are lots of debate surrounding which Parker’s Heritage Collection release is the best. Based on my experience of what I’ve seen others say, Promise of Hope consistently lands in the top 3 for most enthusiasts. I never understood the hype before I had a taste for myself and now I see what the fuss is all about.

POH delivers an incredibly deep and concentrated sip considering the low proof of the release. This is honestly better than any Van Winkle 12 Year Lot B that I’ve ever had and it also rivals a lot of Michter’s 10 Year releases as well. That’s no small feat. So if you want to enjoy a bourbon that showcases the best of what Parker had selected throughout the years, do yourself a favor and find a bottle of this. I think you’ll agree that there is something special inside.