Review: Parker’s Heritage Collection Malt Whiskey Finished in Heavy Toast Cognac Barrels 14 Years Old (2024)
This year’s Parker’s Heritage Collection release, its 18th edition, is a bit of a mouthful. In fact, what you see in the headline isn’t even the full name. That monster of a name is: Parker’s Heritage Collection Kentucky Straight Malt Whiskey Finished in Reconstructed Heavy Toast Cognac Barrels 14 Years Old.
Parker’s has done malt whiskey before, but only once, in 2015, when it was far from my favorite release. Now the same product is back, but with a twist. It’s made from the same mash — 65% malted barley and 35% corn — and was distilled in 2009. But while the 2015 malt was a sleepy 8 year old, this release tops out at 14 years, and it’s finished — as the name describes in excruciating detail — in larger reconstructed heavy toast Cognac barrels for almost four months. French master blender Alain Royer assisted with the blending process.
If you want more minutiae: The original Malt Whiskey barrels are from the fourth floor of Rickhouse O and the sixth floor of Rickhouse Q. Once re-barreled, the Cognac barrels aged in Rickhouse H1 on the fifth floor. As always, proceeds will continue to support ALS research and patient care in honor of the late Parker Beam.
Kentucky malt. Finished in Cognac barrels. Overproof. Ready for something different? Let’s dive in.
To start with, the nose is unlike any whiskey I’ve encountered before — and that makes sense, because we’re in wholly new territory here. It’s objectively hard to describe — a combination of intense char, fennel, blood orange peel and fruit, black tea, and pepper. The odd combo is surprisingly enveloping, variously recalling pepper steak, smoked tea leaves, and, later, mint and bay leaf. It’s a whiskey that in some ways smells more like something I’d want to eat rather than drink.
The palate shifts gears, but not much. Toasty with ample char from the barrel, the “heavy toast” aspect is never out of view. Boldly chocolatey and gently sweet, the impact of the Cognac in the mix makes an impression, though the appearance of dark fruits is elusive and fleeting. Thanks to the higher abv, the finish turns slightly hot and more toward cherry than raisin, a somewhat gritty spiciness clinging to the palate, heavy with clove and, to a lesser degree, black pepper. It’s approachable at full strength, but all of this shines more clearly and seductively with a good splash of water.
What’s never apparent in this whiskey is malt: It doesn’t drink like any American malt whiskey I’ve tasted, and that’s not a complaint. Rather, the finishing barrel has had so much influence over the initial product that it renders the base spirit almost anonymous. What has come out the other side, however, is a minor knockout.
107 proof.
A- / $185 / heavenhilldistillery.com
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