Heaven's Door

Heaven's Door whiskey was first launched in 2018 by Bob Dylan and Marc Bushala, who founded Angel’s Envy Bourbon. In 2015, Dylan trademarked the name “Bootleg Whiskey”, referencing a series of recordings that featured previously unreleased material from Dylan’s long musical career. Bushala became aware of the registration and approached Dylan about a drinks partnership.

Heaven’s Door initially released three core expressions: Straight Rye Whiskey, Double Barrel Whiskey and Tennessee Straight Bourbon. The whiskies were fashioned by Ryan Perry, Head of Whiskey Development and Master Distiller Jordan Via at Heaven’s Door Spirits - liquid is currently sourced from various distilleries, but there has been an intention to open a distillery in a converted 160 year old church in Nashville - however this was supposed to open in fall of 2020 and the project is still up in the air at the time of writing.

Each bottle features artwork of sculptures of metal gates that were made at Dylan’s art studio, Black Buffalo Ironworks. According to Dylan, the gates were constructed from random metal objects he picked up from farms and junkyards and include “everything from farm equipment, children’s toys, kitchen utensils and antique firearms” to “chains, cogs axes and wheels.”

Dylan was reluctant to use his name as a selling tool for the brand, and it took a while to get his acceptance to have his signature anywhere on the bottle.

The Decade Series is a limited selection of 10 year whiskies - the first being a Straight Bourbon, this second release being a 10yo Straight Rye with a mashbill of 95% rye and 5% malted barley. The label states the spirit has been distilled in Indiana, so there's a good chance this is a MGP product, which is further hinted at by a spicy herbaceous note on both the nose and palate. There's quite a kick even at 50% ABV, with drying oak and a touch of eucalyptus. Water does help here - not a lot though - releasing more fruity flavours of orange marmalade, green apple and sea-salt caramel.