In a world full of many mediocre celebrity-backed spirits brands, Bob Dylan‘s Heaven’s Door stands out—the whiskey is actually pretty good, and the blending and cask finishing are quite interesting. The latest release is the sixth entry in Heaven’s Door’s limited-edition Bootleg Series, and we got an early taste along with a look at the distillery being built in Kentucky and a preview of the new Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown.
As we reported last year, Heaven’s Door acquired a Kentucky distillery called Six Mile Creek located in the small town of Pleasureville. The brand kept the small distilling operation that was already there, and is now using that as a micro-distillery to try out different whiskey concepts (during my visit, they were making four-grain rye, not a style that you see every day). The sprawling campus is still under construction and set to open sometime in 2025, and will include different experiential sites that take you through the process of whiskey making, like a working water-powered mill to grind grains, a mini cooperage, and a tasting room set right on the banks of Six Mile Creek. A much larger distillery is also being built, which will eventually produce the bulk of Heaven’s Door whiskey, but it will be years before we taste any of that. There are plans to eventually bottle the whiskey stock that came with the acquisition of the old distillery, possibly as a distillery-only exclusive.
Bootleg Series VI is the latest edition in this high-priced collection of whiskeys. The bottle features a rendering of Dylan’s “Favela Villa Candido” painting, part of his Brazil Series, and the liquid within pays tribute to that country as well. It’s a 12-year-old wheated bourbon that was finished in toasted Limousin oak cigar barrels (they are called that because of their shape), which according to the brand are frequently used to age Brazilian spirits like cachaça. Those types of casks have been used by Heaven’s Door before to finish its rye whiskey, but in this case they result in a palate with flavors like baking spice, black pepper, dried fruit, stone fruit, dark chocolate, and espresso, with a heightened sweetness due to the fact that this is a wheated bourbon.
As mentioned before, we got to preview the film A Complete Unknown, which opened yesterday in select IMAX theaters and will get a wide release on Christmas Day. It’s a very entertaining film, and the performances and music are excellent. Timothee Chalamet’s turn as Dylan is almost comically brooding at times and Edward Norton’s Pete Seeger is like a folk singer version of Mr. Rogers, but their singing and demeanor are both spot on, and Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez is fun to watch. The film is faithful to the biopic trajectory, following the musician from his status as being completely unknown to shocking the folkies at Newport when he straps on his axe, and there are plenty of cheesy moments along the way. But overall, it’s a pretty fun watch.
If you want to crack open a bottle of expensive whiskey to enjoy during the movie, Heaven’s Door Bootleg Series VI (SRP $500) is available now at select retailers and websites like Total Wine.
