Reviews #84-85: Ten Year Tater Tasting: Heaven's Door 10 Year and Basil's Hayden's 10 Year

I ended up in possession of these two tater ten year bourbons via a questionable purchase and a trade. The Basil Hayden’s 10 Year is the same high rye mash bill and low proof as the regular Basil Hayden’s bourbon just aged a little longer while the Heaven’s Door is a low rye mashbill and bottled at 100 proof instead of the 90 proof of their regular expression. I couldn’t resist doing a little blind tasting to see if either one of them lived up to the hype!

Heaven’s Door 10 Year Tennessee Straight Bourbon

Age: 10 years

Abv: 100 proof

Color: A medium amber

Price: $119.99

Basil Hayden’s 10 Year Kentucky Straight Bourbon

Age: 10 years

Abv: 80 proof

Color: A dark amber

Price: $69.99

Sample #1

Nose: Strong toasted marshmallow, chocolate, a touch of nuts

Taste: Decent mouthfeel with more marshmallow, chocolate milk powder, nuts and a tobacco

Finish: Medium to long finish with the chocolate and tobacco fading to just tobacco

Reveal: Heaven’s Door

0 Stars - Fine: I would not specifically choose to drink this over other readily available options

Sample #2

Nose: Cherry and sweet honey notes with a touch of spice.

Taste: More cherries and honey but the spice is missing for me. Unfortunately thin, watery mouthfeel though.

Finish: Ah the baking spice note come back in the short finish along side more cherries and honey.

Reveal: Basil Hayden’s

0 Stars - Fine: I would not specifically choose to drink this over other readily available options

Conclusion

The blind portion of this was pretty easy thanks to those classic Dickel notes and that equally classic thin Basil Hayden’s mouthfeel.

I really enjoyed the Heaven’s Door 10 year would rank it somewhere between the Dickel 9 year and a good Dickel sourced Barrell pick but it’s nontrivially more expensive than either so I can’t see myself buying a bottle. If this was priced a little more favorably I would have given it an 8.

The Basil Hayden’s was fine, just fine. It is a step up from the current NAS bottling but not enough to really make a difference. The notes were all pleasent and based on my taste for Booker’s and Knob Creek I’m curious what a barrel proof or at least 100-110 proof version of Basil Hayden’s would be like.

The Heaven’s Door was the clear winner here but neither was a triumph, or worth the money. That said I could see grabbing the Basil Hayden’s 10 Year as a nice gift for someone who likes Basil Hayden’s like my dad for example.