Thursday, September 11, 2014

HEAVEN HILL LAUNCHES 2014 PARKER'S HERITAGE COLLECTION RELEASE

Heaven Hill Distilleries has this week announced the release of the 2014 limited edition Parker’s Heritage Collection.

This year, for the first time, Heaven Hill will be using an American straight whiskey style other than bourbon for the Parker’s Heritage Collection release. The 2014 edition will feature 13-year-old straight wheat whiskey, bottled at cask strength and non-chill filtered.

Parker's Heritage Collection - 2014 Edition

The barrels used for this year’s offering were from the very first run of what later would become Bernheim Original Straight Wheat Whiskey. With a minimum of 51% soft winter wheat in the mashbill or grain recipe, Bernheim is the only straight wheat whiskey produced by a major American distiller and has been available since 2005. For this reason, this year’s Parker’s Heritage Collection release has been dubbed “Original Batch Kentucky Straight Wheat Whiskey”.

The release will be comprised of two small batch dumps, the first of which will be bottled at a robust 127.4° proof or 63.7% alcohol by volume. The cask strength and lack of chill filtering mean the whiskey is bottled much as it came out of the barrel after 13 years of aging on the top floors of Rickhouse Y on the Heaven Hill property in Bardstown.

Heaven Hill announced in June that they were repackaging the Bernheim Original Wheat Whiskey to add a 7 year age statement, but the additional 6 years of maturation gives the Parker’s Heritage Collection Original Batch Wheat Whiskey even greater complexity and depth. The soft, biscuity profile of Bernheim is tempered with additional oak and char notes, and the finish is long and spicy.

This year’s release of Parker’s Heritage Collection promises to be a worthy successor to the previous seven releases, which, having won multiple awards from Whisky Advocate magazine, Whisky Magazine and the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, stand as some of the most critically lauded American Whiskeys in recent memory. Past bottlings have won awards ranging from “Best North American Whiskey” to “American Whiskey of the Year” to “Best of Show, Brown Spirits.” As a result, the Parker’s Heritage Collection releases have become some of the most anticipated and sought after bottlings of every New Year.

Packaged in the same upscale 750ml bottle as the previous six editions but with a buff coloured label, the Parker’s Heritage Collection Original Batch Kentucky Straight Wheat Whiskey bottling reflects the care and craftsmanship of its contents. Available in a three bottle case, it will be featured on the shelves and back bars of the nation’s finest spirits retailers and on premise operators starting in September. With the ever increasing interest in American Whiskeys, especially ultra-premium bottlings, consumers will have to act quickly to secure a sample of the rarity.

Commenting on the new release, Susan Wahl, Senior Brand Manager for Whiskeys at Heaven Hill Distilleries said: “American Whiskey connoisseurs have every year come to eagerly anticipate the announcement and introduction of the new Parker’s Heritage Collection release. With the additional interest of an extra aged wheat whiskey, the cause-related contributions to ALS treatment and all the attention the Ice Bucket Challenge has focused on it, we anticipate this year’s Parker’s Heritage Collection Original Batch Kentucky Straight Wheat Whiskey to be another highly regarded release.”

The 2014 limited edition Parker’s Heritage Collection, will be available from specialist retailers in the US from the end of September.

Source: Heaven Hill Distilleries