Heaven's Door The Bootleg Series Volume II: Sunset, Monument Valley

The annual Bootleg Series from Heaven's Door arrives in a beautiful handmade ceramic bottle featuring a Bob Dylan painting and a leather-bound book. The 2019 edition, a 26-year-old whiskey finished in Japanese Mizunara oak, was surprisingly excellent, defying my expectation of overpriced celebrity fare. Now, I'm sampling the Bootleg 2020 Edition: a 15-year-old straight bourbon finished in Jamaican pot still rum casks that previously held rum for 30-35 years, bottled at 104.6 proof. Let's see if it matches the magic of last year's release. On first smell, rum dominates, with no bourbon notes apparent. It's fruity, with hints of sugarcane and banana foster. A second inhale reveals bourbon notes emerging behind the rum: a subtle rum flavor of banana foster, followed by bourbon's cherry and orange peel notes, then vanilla iced bread pudding, and finally light oak spices like cinnamon and leather, with a faint ethanol burn. The initial taste is thin, starting again with rum flavors. It presents as day-old rum-soaked monkey bread topped with dark muscovado sugar-coated caramelized bananas. Bourbon then peeks through with cherries jubilee and candied orange peel, followed by mild spices of ginger and leather, and light tannic oak with a moderate ethanol burn. The finish is medium length, featuring rum-soaked monkey bread, cherry liqueur, candied orange peel, and light oak spices. This is an aged, smooth, and well-balanced whiskey. It incorporates traditional bourbon flavors with a subtle rum influence, but lacks complexity, making it rather unexciting. If you seek a balanced, light, fruity, and easy-drinking whiskey, this might suit you. However, those desiring a complex dram with numerous captivating flavor components will likely be disappointed. For $500, I'd rather watch these bottles disappear into the sunset and spend my money elsewhere.

Strong caramel/toffee aromas. Smooth, sweet flavors from oak. It's surprisingly a bit sharp on the finish.