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Writer's pictureBarrel Brothers

Craft Whiskey Wednesday Review #80 Heritage Orange Finished Rye Whiskey

Updated: Feb 21, 2021

Distillery: Heritage Distilling Co.

Proof: 92

Age: NAS

Mashbill: Undisclosed

BACKGROUND: Heritage Distilling Co. (HDC) is a distillery based out of Gig Harbor, Washington with tasting rooms in Oregon as well. HDC makes vodkas, gins, rums, and whiskeys. HDC is one of the largest craft distilleries on the West Coast and is the largest independently owned craft distillery in Washington. They’re a majority women owned enterprise and they have a patented program called the Cask Club that allows members to essentially create they’re very own product. This particular whiskey is from their Dual Barrel Collection. HDC’s Dual Barrel Collection is a unique expression of Bourbon and Rye finished in Orange extract barrels. HDC is a craft whiskey distillery in Gig Harbor, WA who have many different whiskey expressions. They also give back to troops stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. They recently released their Special Forces and the proceeds from the limited release go to Special Forces charities.

NOSE: Can someone say orange creamsicle? The nose is dominated by sour (not in a bad way) orange and vanilla notes along with some faint notes of brown sugar and rye spice if you smell hard enough. The nose is on the lighter side but is quite smooth and has no burn! (19/25)

PALATE: Sweet and then spicy! As soon as it touched my lips I got some really sweet orange and vanilla notes. Then the rye spice slowly crept up and took over bringing some really tasty rye spice, oak, and citrus rind! It's very smooth and balanced while maintaining a complex and ever-evolving palate. The whiskey also had a nice rich mouthfeel which is always enjoyable. (30/40)

FINISH: The rye spice that was so prevalent on the palate continues to build here! The finish is dominated by rye spice that took me to the limit of overwhelming before backing off and allowing for some cracked pepper, clove, sweet citrus. The finish is medium in length. (20/25)

VALUE: This whiskey has an SRP of $55 which is really well priced when factoring in the cost of the orange extract barrels (8/10)

Overall: 78/100

FINAL THOUGHTS: This is a very unique rye whiskey that features classic rye spice with some unique and very flavorful sweet notes from the orange extract. This is a whiskey that really deserves to be tried and savored. It's super easy to drink neat but also made a fantastic cocktail. You can get your own bottle by clicking here! This bottle was provided to us at no cost by Heritage Distilling Co.

Similar & Slightly Better Whiskey: Parker's Heritage Orange Curacao

Similar & Equal Whiskey: Bardstown Orange Curacao Finish

Similar & Slightly Worse Whiskey: Heritage Distilling Co. Orange Extract Finished Bourbon

Tell us what you think and give us some feedback!


Scoring Legend:

96-100: The perfect dram, juice of the gods

90-95: Near perfect, truly incredible whiskey

85-89: Amazing whiskey, will always try to keep a backup bottle of this

80-84: Very good, some minor flaws here or there

75-79: Good, quite enjoyable to drink, Will try and keep a bottle on the shelf

70-74: Solid, wouldn’t go out of my way to get this

60-69: Decent, would offer this up to non whiskey drinkers

50-59: Not my cup of tea

Below 50: Give away


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