Review #197: Parker’s Heritage Collection 18th Edition: 14yr Malt Whiskey Finished in Cognac Barrels

AGE: 14 yr

MASH BILL: 65% malted barley, 35% corn

PROOF: 107

COST: MSRP is $170 for 750mL bottle (I paid $32 for a 2oz pour at a restaurant)

The 2024 annual release of Parker’s Heritage Collection (PHC) features a 14-year-old malt whiskey finished in customized cognac barrels. I say customized because the cognac barrels were disassembled and some of the staves replaced with new heavy toasted oak. The 14 year malt whiskey was then rebarreled in these custom cognac barrels and finished for about 4 months.

As a self-proclaimed Heaven Hill fan boy, I generally find nothing wrong with anything Heaven Hill produces and like to seek any and all releases. But where I live, all PHC releases come with a $400+ price tag. And while they are generally well received and may be worth it to some, I find these are ones I normally settle for a pour or two at a bar when I can find it at a decent price. I was fortunate enough to have someone share a sample of this 18^th edition PHC with me a while back, but I only jotted down a few notes on my phone and couldn’t really settle in and dissect it. While it was quite enjoyable, I didn’t write down enough to justify a review of it. While at the beach this week, a local restaurant had a couple releases of PHC on the shelf, this being one of them. At $32 for a 2 oz pour, I figured I’d go ahead and get it to finalize my tasting notes and give this one a proper review. Without further ado, let’s dive in!

Reviewed neat in a Glencairn.

APPEARANCE: Golden, red in color (1.4), moderately thick with fat legs. 

NOSE: Big brown sugar sweetness, blackberry jam, and a chocolate cherry cordial give dark sweetness, then a peppery spice subtly settles in. The spice is faint enough to not draw too much attention on the nose but foreshadows what’s to come. There is a hint of earthy, malted grains that I pick up towards the end of the nose that I think in a blind could provide a clue this is a malted whiskey, but it could just be that I’m picking it up knowing what it is. Going in for a second whiff, I can pick up more delicate sweetness with some light notes of honey, vanilla, and apricots. It’s an involved nose and knowing what this whiskey is, all scents make sense. In a blind though, it would probably be fairly confused about what’s in my glass.

PALATE: This has a pleasant buttery mouthfeel on the palate. Right out of the gate, the spice notes really come out swinging with spicy oak, a spoonful of powdered cinnamon, black pepper, and pepper jelly. Not to be outdone, the rich vanilla fights the spice back quite well. Lovely notes of butterscotch, ripe cherries, and blackberry jam, no doubt attributed by the cognac barrels. It’s rather high rye bourbon like at first and then towards the end of the sip right before the swallow that earthy malt really kicks in along with some nutmeg going into the finish.

FINISH: This has a long, tannic finish. The spice from the palate persists with bold black pepper, cinnamon, and nutmeg. The malt note is consistent but presents a little sweeter than it did earlier on the nose and palate. Heavily caramelized brown sugar and vanilla show up late but take a while to fade. Toasted, aged oak builds in early and outlasts all other notes as well though and is accompanied by a little barrel char late in the finish.

RATING: 7.8/10

OVERALL: I was rather surprised at how spicy this was the second time around. I jotted down “black pepper and cinnamon” from my original sample of this but didn’t really recall it being that dominant. So, it could be just how my palate was feeling at dinner when I had this pour (I did have it prior to dinner, but after a hazy IPA about an hour or so before. So it could be that my palate was hypersensitive to the spice notes.) Regardless, the cognac finish is very present in this sip on the nose and the palate. There are certainly malt whiskey vibes, but largely, this would be a bourbon drinker’s malt whiskey. Lots of sweetness and spice with very mild earthy, malt whiskey notes. I’m very pleased with this pour. It’s very unique and well worth trying if you can get it for less than $40 at a bar, but I don’t think I would be willing to go more than that.

Behind the Bottle

While I’ve tried a handful of Parker’s Heritage Collection releases over the years, I have never owned a bottle of one. Along with that, I also just realized I have never done a review of a PHC release. So, let me start out by sharing a little bit about what the PHC line is all about.

Parker Beam started working at Heaven Hill distillery in 1960 alongside his father, Earl Beam, who was the master distiller at that time. In 1975, Earl passed over the reins to Parker who took over as master distiller. In 1983, Parker became Master Distiller Emeritus while his son, Craig, took over as master distiller. Under Parker’s watch, he led Heaven Hill distillery into producing some of the top recognized brands of the day, and some still today: Elijah Craig Small Batch, the first Heaven Hill single barrel label in Evan Williams Vintage Single Barrel, and Rittenhouse Rye to name a few.

In 2010, Parker was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, better known as ALS or Lou Gherig’s disease. While the disease is uncurable, it remained relatively dormant in Parker for some time, but he began funding ALS research to help find a cure. Parker’s condition wasn’t made public initially, and I believe he had hope that a cure would be found before he would need to share the diagnosis publicly. However, the disease eventually got aggressive, and in 2013, it was publicly announced that he was diagnosed with ALS. Parker remained Master Distiller Emeritus at Heaven Hill until 2017 when he succumbed to ALS.

In 2007, Heaven Hill launched the Parker’s Heritage Collection in honor of the contributions that Parker made throughout his 40+ year career at Heaven Hill. This is an annual release that features unique expressions of all sorts and really highlights the innovation of Heaven Hill, something that is in no small part due to Parker Beam. After his ASL diagnosis was publicly announced in 2013, the PHC gained a new focus to not only honor Parker’s legacy, but to raise awareness of ALS and to generate research funding to find a cure for the vicious disease. A portion of all Parker’s Heritage Collection sales goes ALS research as well as patient care. Since 2013, the PHC proceeds have raised more than $1.3 million dollars towards ALS research.

For this 18^th Edition of PHC, Heaven Hill partnered with Master Blender Alain Royer, who also helped with two other PHC releases. It was comprised of 128 barrels of 14yr malt whiskey that were aged on the fourth floor of rickhouse O and the sixth floor of rickhouse Q. After the 128 barrels were dumped, they were rebarreled into 56 larger reconstructed cognac barrels that included some heavily toasted new oak staves. After rebarreling, the cognac barrels were aged on the fifth floor of rickhouse H1 for nearly 4 months.

 

1 | Disgusting | Watershed Apple Brandy Finished Bourbon

2 | Poor | Balcones Lineage

3 | Bad | High West Double Rye, Jefferson's Ocean 28

4 | Sub-par | Weller's SR, Woodford Reserve Distiller's Select, Hillrock Estate Sauternes CS

5 | Good | Buffalo Trace, Sazerac Rye, Green River Wheated

6 | Very Good | Blanton's, Holladay Bourbons, Eagle Rare

7 | Great | Baker's 7yr SiB, BBCo Origin High Wheat, 1792 BiB

8 | Excellent | Most ECBP batches, Maker's Mark Wood Finishing releases, High West MWND Act 11

9 | Incredible | Woodford Reserve Batch Proof 121.2, BBCo Disco #7 and #13, Four Roses OESQ

10 | Perfect | Found North Batch 08, RR15