Butterscotch | Raspberry | Agave | Churro | Chocolate

Cinnamon stick | Dark chocolate | Prune | Walnut

Dark brown sugar | Cinnamon frosting | White peppercorn | Leather | Astringent oak

Bernheim Original Wheat Whiskey is named after the Bernheim Distillery in Louisville, Kentucky. Bernheim Distillery was founded in 1992 by United Distillers (who became Diageo in 1997), then sold to Heaven Hill and renamed Heaven Hill Bernheim Distillery in 1999. It would later become Heaven Hill’s primary distillery after the 1996 fire that destroyed Heaven Hill’s Bardstown Distillery along with 90,000 barrels of whiskey. Bernheim Original Barrel Proof Wheat Whiskey is only released twice per year, with “A” meaning the first batch of the year, “2” meaning during February, and “25” meaning the year 2025.

The aroma opens similarly to previous batches but then deviates, thanks to the inclusion of raspberry, agave, and churros. There is hope that these notes carry over into the palate and finish, but that isn’t the case. Despite what some of the flavor profile suggests, the whiskey isn’t as sweet as you would expect. Cinnamon is present once again - one of Bernheim's standard flavors - but starts relatively robust and spicy before turning sweeter during the finish. The palate is on the darker side of the flavor spectrum, with dark chocolate, prune, and walnut rounding it out. The finish layers dark brown sugar against white peppercorn, leather, and astringent oak. Astringency is typical in wheat whiskeys, and although Batch A225 does a better job tempering it, there’s no entirely escaping it.

This year’s Heaven Hill Heritage Collection featuring the Bernheim mashbill at ​​19 years old and 100 proof revealed the elegance and complexity this Heaven Hill wheat whiskey can ultimately reach. But when bottled at the 7-9 year range and higher proof, it doesn’t come together as well as it should. Wheat whiskeys are hard to crack, and even giants like Heaven Hill are still struggling to nail it fully. Elijah Craig Barrel Proof and Larceny Barrel Proof both had their early pitfalls the first few years after being released to market, so there’s continued hope Heaven Hill nails one at some point.