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Throwback Review: 2015 Parker's Heritage 8yr Malt Whiskey + Booker’s Tequila Finish & Heaven Hill...
Apr 30, 2026
This week on Bourbon Bytes, I take a deep dive into the 2015 Parker’s Heritage 8-Year Malt Whiskey - a rare and experimental Heaven Hill release that was way ahead of its time. How does it hold up nearly a decade later, and why didn’t Heaven Hill continue down the malt path? Also in whiskey news: Booker’s The Reserves 2025 gets a bold tequila barrel finish Woodford Reserve Master’s Collection “Sweet Oak” rolls out in rare chinquapin oak barrels Heaven Hill Grain-to-Glass Wheated Bourbon with a unique mash bill Angel’s Envy drops two distillery-only exclusives Buffalo Trace Elmer T. Lee Charity Sweepstakes offers an incredible behind-the-scenes prize
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Today on the Bourbon Bites podcast, we're highlighting several new bourbon releases from across Kentucky
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including the 2025 Booker's Reserves Tequila Cask Finish, Heaven Hill's new Grain-to-Glass Whiskey
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two distillery-only releases from Angel's Envy, and a throwback review of the 2015 Parker's Heritage 8-Year Malt Whiskey
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Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the Bourbon Bites podcast. I'm your host, Clifton, and this is the week of Thursday, September 11th, 2025
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I know a lot of you are gearing up for bourbon and beyond that starting today and going through the weekend
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I so wish I could make it out there. I've always wanted to go to one of these big bourbon festivals out in Kentucky
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But living in Southern California makes it a bit more of a challenge. You know, you have a flight, you have the hotel, and all the transportation you have to figure out
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It makes it a little more difficult for me to make it out there. But those of you that are there, enjoy some amazing bourbon, some amazing performances
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I just wish I could be there. It sounds like a great time. So cheers to Bourbon and Beyond of 2025
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But with that being said, we have a ton of news in the world of bourbon and whiskey that
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we need to talk about this week. This might be the most whiskey announcements we've had in one podcast episode this season
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so I'll make sure to make it more of a bite-sized snippet of every news article and every new
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release and then maybe dive into them a bit later especially if I get a chance to try a sample of
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some of them. But we're going to start off with a new announcement from Booker's Bourbon at Jim
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Beam. They are releasing the 2025 release of The Reserves and it has a unique twist that's never
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been done before at Jim Beam. So this is being labeled as an extra old bourbon with the youngest
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spirit age in it 8 years 10 months and 11 days. It's going to be bottled uncut and unfiltered at
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123.3 proof but here's where it gets even more interesting. This is going to be finished for six
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months in tequila barrels but these aren't just any tequila barrels. These barrels previously held
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the whiskey used in the Booker's 30th bourbon release which I was lucky enough to try a few
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years ago. They actually shipped these barrels from the Booker's 30th release over to Jalisco
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and used it to age El Tesoro's tequila for their 85th anniversary release and now they're making
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they're way back to Kentucky for this very special Booker's Reserve release. They do say that the
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agave influences not just the palate but the nose as well. They're saying it's the typical nose rich
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in caramel and vanilla with a touch of agave spirit. The palate is the Booker's you love but
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the finish even comes back to that agave. I'm really excited. I do love that especially mezcal
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and some you know high-end tequilas have a bit of a black pepper finish and I think that would
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complement bourbon really really well so I would be curious to try this. I bet it's delicious
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especially with it being older aged Booker's. This one is, like I said, the youngest in it is
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about eight years old. I've heard that this isn't as old as some of the previous The Reserves
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releases. Those vary between eight and 14 years old. So this one might have a little bit more of
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that eight-ish year old distillate in there, but man, what an interesting twist on Booker's. I
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cannot wait to hear about this one and see how that tequila influence impacts this bourbon
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It's going to be limited to about 20,000 bottles and they're going to have limited quantities
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available at the distillery as well as a nationwide release starting this month. Suggested retail is
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$130 the same as last year's batch and I think that's a pretty fair price for a release like this
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You know you're getting older bookers, cast strength, unique finish. I mean I think the price
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you know is seeing bookers go up and up in price. It only makes sense that this is going to be a
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little bit more than regular bookers but not so much that it makes you you know second guess it
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I would definitely pick it up for the price to at least try it once. I typically love a wine finish
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but I've had some incredible rum finishes so why not experiment with agave as well
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All right well keeping the new releases rolling Woodford Reserve just announced their 2025
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master's collection it is called Sweet Oak Bourbon it is aged in rare chinkapin oak barrels. Now if
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you've been following the podcast you know chinkapin's coming up quite a bit lately most recently in the
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Bombergers release from Mictors their limited edition annual release well Woodford took a note
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out of their book with this bourbon. It's going to be bottled at 110.4 proof. There doesn't seem
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to be an age statement here, but we do know the MSRP of it is about $180 for a 700 milliliter
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bottle Now this is available now at the Distillery and Select Kentucky retailers in very limited quantities as well as available on their website at shop These Woodford Reserve Masters collections I feel like have been
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kind of hit or miss at least though I've heard. I haven't had a chance to try very many of them
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I do wish we had a little bit more info in terms of the age of the whiskey here. 180 is a bit tough for someone that's non-age dated. Of course it is 110.4 proof which is nice
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so I think this one would be a pass for me personally but if you had a chance to try it
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let me know, is it worth the price? Because that is a spendy bottle of Woodford. I have reached out
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to the brand for a sample, so my opinion may change if I get a chance to try it. So stay tuned. Make
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sure to follow me on your favorite podcast platform. Now, another new release is the 2025 edition of
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Heaven Hills Grain-to-Glass Bourbon. This one is a straight weeded bourbon whiskey, but it's not
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their typical high wheat mash bill. This is actually even higher with 35% wheat, 52% corn
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and 13% malted barley. They use a specific corn varietal in this that is from a family-owned farm
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Peterson Farms, in Nelson County, and it reflects the distillery's dedication to sourcing local
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carefully chosen grain. We do know this is aged over six years old at the Cox Creek Rickhouse
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bottled at barrel proof, which is 106.6 proof. Have you guys had these grain to glass releases
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I see them here and there, but I would love to try them all together before I make a judgment on
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which one's worth buying, which one's not worth buying. This one though, the retail on it is $100
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Same with these other grain to glass releases, at least the ones that I've seen here in Southern
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California. Last year's weeded bourbon, you know, won so many awards. So it's interesting to see that
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this one is a different mash bill, a different corn variety. I would love to do a little side
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by side between those two. All right, we only have two more new whiskeys that I want to tell
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you about. These are distillery only releases of Angel's Envy. The first of which is a two grain
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bourbon and it's made up of a mash bill of 90% corn and 10% malted barley. Now this is very
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different from the usual Angel's Ami mash bill. That's 72% corn, 18% rye, and 10% malted barley
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This whiskey was also aged in new charred barrels from Kelvin Cooperage and has been bottled at 112
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proof. The second of these is called the Peated Cask Rye. So this is a rye whiskey that's been
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finished in scotch barrels to bring bold rye flavor with Isla's signature Pete smoke. It's
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aged six years and finished for another year in scotch casks and is bottled at 100 proof
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I always love seeing a scotch cask finish whiskey. I think Doc Swenson's was one of the first ones I
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had and it brings a lot of layers with it. You know not just the smoke. You think Isla, you think Pete
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you think smoke which is true but when you combine that with the flavors of a big strong bold bourbon
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or rye whiskey you get some really incredible blending of cultures and flavors and different
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fruitiness smokiness oh it's so much fun so of the two that one sounds the most interesting to me
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now like I said these are distillery only they're going to be bottled in 375 milliliter bottles
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retail for about 55 dollars each so pretty fair price for something that's a distillery exclusive
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if you are stopping by the distillery I bet they'll have a tasting of these too if you try
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them let me know which one's your favorite but they do sound really fun and if you had a chance to try them I would love to hear how they are all right last piece of whiskey news this is an
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announcement from Buffalo Trace actually they are announcing the Elmer T. Lee charity sweepstakes
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so they are partnering with St. Jude Children's Hospital and they are doing a fundraiser slash
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sweepstakes last year they raised over a million dollars with this now this is part of the Sazerac
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Barrel Select program but this time they are releasing an Elmer T. Lee barrel selection
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experience. Now this runs through September 30th of this year. Every $100 donation is an entry so
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it sounds like if you donate more you'll get more entries and one winner will be selected for the
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grand prize which includes a one-night stay in Stagg Lodge and a VIP behind-the-scenes tour
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and private catered lunch at Buffalo Trace with the winner and up to seven guests. They can then
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do a private barrel selection experience to Thieve, Taste, and Select their barrel of Elmer T. Lee
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alongside master distiller Harlan Wheatley. And they'll also get an $18,000 cash prize
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which may be used to purchase the bottles from the selected barrel with personalized medallions. So
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it sounds like you don't have to necessarily buy the bottles, but you could with that cash prize
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So really fun opportunity. Definitely goes to a good cause. And it's something that I've just
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never seen done before, at least with Elmer T. Lee. So definitely check that out. You can enter
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the sweepstakes on their website sazerakbarrelselect They have all the details there including the rules and all the terms and all that stuff but check it out it really cool to see them giving back this way all right that was a mouthful but i think that does it for the news this week no video game news because we talked so much about whiskey news i don want
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to you know overwhelm your brain but we do have a very very exciting throwback bite-sized review
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all right so like i said we are going back to 2015 with this review gosh that was only 10 years ago
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but why does it feel like it was way longer than that i mean life was so different back then at
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least for me i was you know just graduating college still living in south carolina still
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had hope for the future and now look where we're at just kidding i won't go down that rabbit hole
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Instead, I'm going to review this Parker's Heritage release. It is an eight-year-old malt whiskey bottled at 108 proof
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Now, this is my first time trying this release. I've had this sample for ages, I feel like
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And I think, you know, when I first got it, I wasn't that experienced with American malt whiskey
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And I think that was part of the reason why I put it off. I wanted to hold out until I've had more experience with it
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You know, I felt like I deserved to give it a fair review after trying a lot more malts
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especially American single malts. So when digging through samples, looking for things to review for
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today's episode, I found it and I thought it was very relevant because if you remember last week
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I talked about the Woodford Reserve 12 year single malt that was coming out and I was like
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that's crazy. I didn't know anyone was doing malt for that long. Come to find out Parker's Heritage
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released a eight year old malt whiskey in 2015. Now this was a little bit different. It's a Kentucky
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straight malt whiskey. It's not a single malt. It's actually 65% malted barley, 35% corn. But
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still, this is some highly aged malt whiskey available to us from 2015. That's pretty crazy
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Now retail on this was $100 when it first came out. Of course, secondary markets have skyrocketed
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especially with older releases like this. So I could see this going for $400 to $500. So I don't
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remember who actually gave me the sample. It's an old label. It could have been Patrick and Heather
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I don't recognize the handwriting, but whoever sent me the sample at least five years or so ago, thank you
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I'm excited to finally try it now that I know what I'm talking about. Because I was mostly just a purely bourbon and some rye whiskey guy probably, you know, back then
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And now I have experienced a whole world of whiskey beyond just bourbon and rye going through Scotland, going through Ireland, Japan, all these incredible world whiskeys
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So I think I now have a fair opinion on malt whiskey and I'm going to reveal it for you guys tonight
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So it's interesting looking back at articles about this. You know, a lot of them are saying that you really don't see much American malt whiskey
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And that kind of was the way it was back then. I mean, Stranahan's was already doing their thing
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Balcones were doing some experiments with malt. But really, it was all coming from these crap distilleries and not major American distilleries
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So it was pretty groundbreaking for Heaven Hill to release this as their, you know, not just a standard release, but their Parker's Heritage release for the year
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They must have felt very strongly about this being an exceptional whiskey
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Let's go and get it poured. Now, even though I'm pulling up articles about it, I don't want to read any reviews or get anyone's opinions
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mainly because, like I said, the landscape of American whiskey has changed. I think it was definitely a shock to those that were fans of Parker's Heritage
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So I think it's one that I'm going to approach with a 2025 palate, but a 2015 mindset
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because I don't think it's fair to compare it against some of the single malt we have today, because, again, it was relatively new and unheard of
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Let's go ahead and give it a nose. Oh, yeah. You know, what's funny is it does have a lot of malt character to it, but it's pretty clearly heaven hill distillate
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I think, you know, they have an overall flavor profile that I love across their lineup, whether it's their bourbon or their weeded bourbon
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I just get some baked good notes like walking into a bake shop, a dessert shop that is prevalent even on the nose here, even though it's not their standard bourbon or rye mash bill
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And I almost want to attribute that to some of the barrels they're using because it always brings out that same kind of like toasted pie crust note, no matter what I'm drinking from them
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So it could be the distillate, it could be the barrels, but the only thing I've seen consistently across these is the barrel
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So that's just a guess there. And the oak expresses itself beautifully here
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Like I said, there is that malted barley element to it, but you're getting a lot of oak
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I mean I would definitely tell that there some age on this especially when you think of malted American whiskeys back then because they were just you know relatively new to the market But this one being eight years old I mean that is very obvious on the nose this is a very well aged whiskey all right let go and give it a taste cheers oh wow okay different yeah I mean that kind of is reminiscent of kind of how I felt
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about some of the early American single malts on the market it does have a craft quality to it and
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I think that's just the way that the malted barley is reacting especially with those barrels now I
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don't know for sure but I'm guessing they probably did use new charred oak barrels here. I know a lot
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of American distilleries do that because that's just what they're used to. This is a lot of that
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like heavy strong wood element but it interacts with that malted barley in a way that makes the
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barley feel more grain forward and a little more I would say less refined and I don't necessarily
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mean that in like a way to say that this is a bad whiskey. It's just when I see malted barley and
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new charred oak barrels a lot of times that does kind of have a bit of an imbalance but it's good
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to see that they are blending some corn here. There's still part of corn in the mash bill. It's bringing a bit more creaminess, a little bit more sweetness that I associate with that
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It's not all that craft kind of tannic note. It's definitely more mellow with that corn
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On second sip, it kind of continues what I'm feeling. It feels a little bit more rounded now that I've kind of acclimated myself with not only, you know, the proof, but the mash bill as well
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It really is just a very complex whiskey. And that's kind of what I look for in Parker's Heritage
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I like them to be you know experimental takes on what they're already doing well. This may have been
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way out left field for them at the time but I don't think it takes away from the impact of this
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being an exceptional whiskey. I think it's you know fitting for the Parker's name. It feels
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limited edition. It feels rare. It feels experimental. It feels fun and it blows my mind that even you
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know 10 years ago Heaven Hill was putting out great malted whiskey. Finish wise almost goes a
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bit savory. It still has that toasted oak element that I got on the nose palette all the way through
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but it goes savory and a little bit like a bitter dark chocolate on the end of the finish
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Really long finish for, you know, something 108 proof. Now, would I say this is my favorite
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Parker's Heritage release? Absolutely not. I've loved their heavily charred bourbon, heavily
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charred rye, as well as some of the other more recent releases. But knowing this came out 10 years
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ago and was doing this well at malt whiskey, and it makes me wonder why haven't they done more with
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malt whiskey. I mean, there have been some Heaven Hill select stock releases that have malt whiskey
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in it, but it really isn't a part of their core lineup. You know, they're doing their bourbon
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their rye bourbon, their weeded bourbon, their rye whiskey. We don't see like a malt whiskey coming
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from Heaven Hill. And I'm wondering why that is. I wonder if maybe this one just didn't perform well
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or they've done some experiments and just found it wasn't for them. I'd be very curious to know
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why they didn't continue this. Maybe they'll start picking it back up now that Woodford Reserve is
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coming in there with a 12 year old American single malt. Maybe they're going to say, okay, there's
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there's some room for us here in Kentucky. Let's give it a try. But yeah, overall, that's a really
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solid Parker's Heritage. All things considered, knowing that, you know, you probably won't be
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able to find a bottle of it today. I'm going to give it a score based on price at time of release
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Based on the nose, the palate, the finish, the price, this one actually gets a solid 9 out of
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10 for me. I think it was groundbreaking in the world of malt whiskey in America. It was ahead of
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its time, I would say. Maybe that's why it didn't do as well. Maybe, you know, people weren't ready
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for it yet but i guarantee you if heaven hill released this today people would be a lot more
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excited about it especially if they put it out at the hundred dollar price point i think the only
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thing that would make this you know a 10 out of 10 for me is one they still made it today two maybe
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a bit higher proof you know 108 it's not bad at all but i think i would love to see how this shines
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at higher proof also eight years is a solid age but i would love to see it at you know 10 to 12
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that's where i think a lot of whiskey shines that especially malt whiskey so you know a little bit
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more age, a little bit more availability, and maybe a little bit more proof would give it a 10 out of
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10 for me. But this is pretty dang close. A 9 out of 10. Wow. I can't wait to see if they do something
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like this again. If they do, I'm going to hold on to the rest of this sample and do a little
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comparison. It'd be really cool to see what they do, you know, compared back to 2015, you know
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whether they release it next year or the year after. I'd love to have a way to compare it to
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where they started. So cheers to that. That was a lot of fun. Thank you so much for whoever, again
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sent me the sample. All right. Well, that does it for this week. Thank you guys so much for
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listening hopefully those new stories were interested to you this has been bourbon bites whiskey reviews with a gaming twist cheers and i'll talk to you next episode
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