Heaven's Door Warehouse Liquors Select Cask Strength Single Barrel Straight Bourbon

VITALS:

- $75

- 123.8 Proof

- NAS

- Barrel #49

- Indiana

Who here loves free whiskey???  I sure do!!! This was a bottle that was given to me after it was brought over to my house by a friend for a small whiskey gathering/tasting. Of course we opened it, drank it, and enjoyed it, and when he left the bottle remained behind. So, hooray for free whiskey!

What's interesting about this, though (at least interesting to me), is that this is MGP bourbon bottled by Heaven's Door.  I don't know what of its own juice, if any, Heaven's Door is bottling. But, I've seen a lot of their private selection single barrels on shelves lately, and nearly all of them have been sourced whiskey from Tennessee. In fact, while I'm sure there are others, this is the only one I've come across that was sourced from Indiana, and I do love me some MGP whiskey!

On the nose I immediately got great candy bar-esque notes, with cinnamon, caramel and milk chocolate taking center stage. There was also a candied walnut note as well as a citrus orange note behind everything. I even got a popcorn note off of it at times. I have no clue what candy bar that all could possibly remind me of, but it certainly came across as rich, sweet and delicious.

As to flavor, this is unquestionably MGP goodness.  I have no idea on the age, but it's certainly not young MGP.  My guess would be 6-7 years. Right up front it's loaded with rich dark caramel and a great cinnamon spice. It's warm and sweet and spicy right away on the tongue.  

It did have a bit of a twist to it, though, as it had this almond extract note that added a layer or richness as well as a bit of bite or tanginess or, I don't know, something to make it a bit more interesting. There was also a bit of an orange bitter to help balance out all the sweetness, and which seemed to work perfectly with everything else going on. It also had this nutty, walnut note that likewise helped keep the sweet notes at bay a bit. 

On the finish, I got a light coffee note, like a sweetened coffee. In fact, it reminded me of an amaretto cream coffee, and once I pinpointed that note, it was all I could notice and I really enjoyed it, so much so that I would dive back into my glass just to experience that finish again. 

I have no clue how good the Tennessee-sourced store picks are from Heaven's Door, but I certainly wouldn't hesitate to grab any MGP-sourced picks if I were to run into them again.  And, it's worth saying, once again Warehouse Liquors did an amazing job with this pick.  It was not only really good, but also interesting and different in a good way!

Grade: A-