Review #888 - Heaven Hill Grain to Glass Rye (2024)

In 2024, Heaven Hill distillery introduced a new series to their whisky range: the Grain to Glass series, which focuses on the origin of the grains used in their bourbons and ryes. This series uses unique mashbills and vintage releases with different nuances chosen for each year's bottlings.

We love the transparency that we see on the label: for this first version of the Grain to Glass rye, we have a distillation year (2017), bottling year (2024), and a mashbill of 63% rye, 24% corn, and 13% malted barley. For the 2024 releases, the grain focus is on the corn used in each mashbill - Heaven Hill partnered with seed company Beck's Hybrids to source a specific non-GMO hybrid corn strain to use in the 2017 production.

They chose Beck's 6158, a seed varietal which they used across all three releases in 2024 (this rye, as well as the ryed bourbon and wheated bourbon versions). While not on the label, there is even more information available on the brand's website: barrel entry proof was 125 proof, and this was aged in warehouse W3 at the Cox's Creek site, specifically on floors 3, 4, and 5.

There's no age statement here, but based on the years of distillation and bottling, we can assume this rye is at least 6 years old; it's bottled at a strength of 61.6% ABV (123.2 proof), which we assume is barrel proof. These releases did come with a bit of a price premium, too: a cost of around $100 at the time of release.

Heaven Hill Grain to Glass Rye (2024)

USA - Rye

Price: USD 100 (2024)

Age Statement: 6 Years

Strength: 61.6% ABV

Details: First edition, distilled 2017, bottled 2024

Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 3 times over 6 months; bottles at 100%, 90% (blind tasting), and 80% fill levels at times of review. Tasted in a nosing glass each time, rested 15+ minutes

Nose: Strong rye, relatively strong oak, lots of orange peel and cinnamon red hots. The rye character is intense - sage, lots of dill, almost pickles. It's herbal, spicy, and we get spearmint and cracked black pepper, too. Later, honey graham crackers, brown sugar, eucalyptus, and lots of candied rye notes build.

Palate: The mouthfeel is medium-thick; it's a punchy whisky, with good texture and quite a bit of spice. Cinnamon, tons of rye grain character like pepper, mint, and eucalyptus; we also get hints of licorice, raw green rye grain, cardamom, and brown sugar. Subtleties of caramel, orange, and fresh dill arrive later.

Finish: Very herbal - mint, sage, cotton, some white pepper. We get licorice, cinnamon candies, and some oak tannins; it's quite spicy and warming, but there's also subtle sweetness from butterscotch or caramel. In the aftertaste, it's effervescent and has grilled jalapeno heat; the finish is medium-long.

Final Note: This is a very good rye, but you really have to like the rye-forward sort of rye whisky to enjoy it. It isn't a Kentucky-style rye that blends the border between bourbon and rye - this is full-on, in-your-face spicy and herbal rye whisky. There is a nice sweetness to it, though, so it's not all spice and sharpness.

Within the rye spectrum, we thought there was a decent amount of complexity here. Many different herbs and spices across our tasting sessions, and the addition of those brown sugar, caramel, and subtle oak notes created some balance. It is a hot whisky, too - that strength shows through, and hasn't really been tamed by the 6 or so years of aging.

In terms of value, we think this is pretty solid at the original selling price. At first, when these were more limited, the secondary price was a little bit higher; now, with some versions sitting on the shelf, you should be able to pick it up at or even below that MSRP. Don't overpay for this, but if you can get it under $100, it's a solid rye buy.

Our Rating: 7.6 / 10

In the current whisky landscape of increasing prices and variable quality, we've added a value rating to our reviews that relates to the score and the available pricing of each whisky. This roughly equates to a 0-10 scale; no reviews so far have exceeded a score of 10, although it is technically possible for the formula to produce a value rating higher than 10 with a high enough score and low enough price.

Value Rating: 6.54

About Us: We're a husband and wife review team living in the Midwest United States. Generally, our reviews and tasting notes will be a compilation of both of our experiences with a whisky over several tasting sessions.