Mellowed oak | Light maple syrup | Subtle dark stone fruits | Cinnamon stick | Light vanilla | Summer fruit salad | Inviting

Summer fruits | Vanilla cinnamon powder | Light charred oak | Subtle syrup | Rye spice | Velvety mouthfeel | Nice balance of sweet and spice notes

Cinnamon spice | Rye bread | Leather | Vanilla bean | Peppercorn heat | Short

Heaven's Door Spirits is a collaboration between legendary artist Bob Dylan and Spirits Investment Partnership. Bob Dylan's first and only brand partnership, Heaven's Door is aimed to be an ever-evolving portfolio of handcrafted whiskeys. Earlier this year, the company announced that they would be building a new distillery in Pleasureville, Kentucky. For their second release in the brand's Decade Series, they’re focusing on a straight rye. According to the company’s press release, “Each expression of The Decade Series features a 10-year aged whiskey that celebrates the importance that time plays in bringing out the best of what is in the barrel.”

The sip opens with inviting sweet scents that pull forward syrup, various fruits, and light vanilla. The palate brings forth a velvety mouthfeel that is full of subtle yet delectable flavors that highlight the time the whiskey spent in a barrel. The typical summer fruit and sweet notes often found in a 95/5 rye are still present but a nice layering of vanilla cinnamon powder, rye spice, and gentle oak temper them down, and form a really nice ying to their yang. The shorter finish starts with a quick burst of cinnamon spice before dying down and revealing more tampered notes of rye bread, vanilla bean, and more traditional leather and peppercorn heat. The finish is the one fault of the whiskey and seems to under deliver compared to its counterparts. Overall though, this is a nicely aged rye that’s easy to sip yet offers enough complexity thanks to the decade it spent in the barrel.