Heaven Hill Quality House Old Style Bourbon

Not every bourbon involves needing to line up at 11pm the day prior to wait for the opening of the shop to get.  In fact, the vast majority of bourbons sit on the shelf and are completely serviceable.    Perhaps the best example of this Wild Turkey 101, which offers amazing value for money.  Among other bourbons we recommend is Elijah Craig Small Batch, which is made by Heaven Hill.  Elijah Craig isn’t their intro brand, an honor that instead belongs to Heaven Hill Quality House Old Style Bourbon.  At around $10, can this bourbon save your time and wallet?

Heaven Hill Quality House Old Style Bourbon

• A.B.V. – 40% (80 proof)
• Age – 3 Years

Sight:  A deep gold.

Smell:  Slight spices and a good dose of ethanol float up to start.  Touches of fresh cherries and oak come in.    The nose distinctly smells like oak, fruit, and hints of oak.

Sip:   The body is light to moderate, but ultimately smooth.  There’s a good amount of oak and light spicing here, with some fruitiness.    There’s a bit of nuttiness that lingers throughout.

Savor:  The ending is slightly oaky with just a touch of nuts and fruit.

Heaven Hill Quality House Old Style Bourbon is surprisingly smooth and not overly complex.  For lack of a better way to put it, it smells like you’d expect bourbon to smell.  Slightly oaky, with a little bit of fruitiness, and some spices and other flavors.   Does it do anything particularly amazing?  Not really.  Would you be able to sip on it for a while?  Sure.  It’s easy going and not particularly offensive or hard to drink.  If anything, the biggest criticism might be that’s just kind of simple.

In Cocktails

Quality House Old Style Bourbon in a Manhattan leads to more of the same.  The drink is clearly based in bourbon, but the flavors are more of oak and spice.   The vermouth gets a strong leg up here as there aren’t a lot of other flavors to stand in the way.  The body is solid, if not noticeable.  The net result is an uninspired but serviceable Manhattan.  It somehow manages to pull the exact same trick in an Old Fashioned – which is amazing given it’s most of the drink.

In Review – Heaven Hill Quality House Old Style Bourbon

Heaven Hill Quality House Old Style Bourbon offers a nice value for a very unobtrusive bourbon.  At about $12 a liter, this is impressive value, but not necessarily something to go out of the way for trying to make amazing drinks.   If you want to offer a bourbon for the end of the evening or for a large group of guests, this is a nice option.  For these reasons it’s a situational bourbon, but nothing that you’d have to be ashamed to serve.