Heaven’s Door Whiskey Review: Revival, Refuge, Revelation

Not all that long ago I reviewed Heaven’s Door Single Barrel Cask Strength Bourbon. I thought it was a very good and reasonably priced cask strength bourbon. Well, today we’re back looking at three of their signature whiskeys – Revival, Refuge, and Revelation – a straight bourbon, a straight rye, and a double barreled whiskey.

Heaven’s Door was co-created by Bob Dylan and the namesake for this whiskey is one of his hit songs “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”.

“Knock, knock, knockin’ on Heaven’s Dooooor” (It sounds really good when I sing it out loud, I promise).

Heaven’s Door Whiskey Overview

	Revival	Refuge	Revelation
Spirit	Straight Bourbon	Straight Rye	Whiskey
Owned By	Heaven’s Door Spirits	Heaven’s Door Spirits	Heaven’s Door Spirits
Distilled By	TN Distillery	Canadian Distillery	Canadian, TN, & KY Distillers
Aged	6+ Years	6+ Years, finished in Sherry casks	6+ Years, double barreled in alligator charred, new American oak
ABV	46%, 92 proof	46%, 92 proof	50%, 100 proof
Mashbill	Undisclosed, 51%+ corn	100% Rye	Undisclosed. Blend of KY & TN Bourbon with Canada Rye
Price	$50	$65	$55

We have quite a bit of differences between these three whiskeys. While they’re all aged at least 6 years, they contain different mashbills from different distilleries, Refuge and Revelation even contain whiskey distilled in Canada.

The aging process should also have a very different impact on each of these whiskeys. Refuge is finished for around 6 months in Sherry casks which should add some dried fruits to the 100% rye mashbill. Revelation is aged in a second barrel for 6-12 months in the heaviest charred barrel there is – alligator char.

Heaven’s Door Distillery

Heaven’s Door started out by sourcing their whiskey – from Tennessee, Kentucky, and Canada. However, they just completed their new distillery in Pleasureville, KY this past fall and plan to open it to the public in spring of 2024.

It may be a couple years until we get to try some of their in-house distilled whiskey as they’ll likely start by aging their whiskey a minimum of 2 years.

Tasting Notes

Alright, now that we’ve covered the basics, we can talk about how these whiskeys drink and their flavor profiles.

Revival

Nose: Sweet corn and caramel with lots of oak and leather coming out of the glass. Cherries, cinnamon, and a light nuttiness reminiscent of almonds.

Palate: More vanilla on the palate than caramel with some cherries. Cinnamon, oak, and pepper come in strong towards the mid palate.

Finish: Oily vanilla and leather stick around with a lighter cinnamon spice. Short to Medium-in-length finish.

Refuge

Nose: A little funky off the bat. Floral and medicinal. Some lemon and citrus mixed with a lot of Nutmeg and Thyme. It’s not exactly Nutmeg and Thyme – which who knows off the top of their head what that really smells like – so I think the best way for me to describe it is like play-doh and alcohol.

Some darker dried fruits get in there. Smells a bit like a day old/unwashed/dried out empty wine glass.

Palate: That funk goes straight over to palate. A little hot cinnamon spice gets thrown in, but it’s mostly lemon with that funky rye spice.

Finish: There’s at least a dry oak and oily vanilla going on here, but the lemon and rye spice is still dominant. Medium-in-length finish.

Revelation

Nose: It’s a surprisingly very light nose. There’s a touch of the funk from the refuge, but I’d mostly describe the nose as buttercream.

Palate: It’s a light caramel up front, but a bunch of citrus, mint, pepper, and some rye spice come in strong at the mid/back of the palate with more caramel and toffee with is.

Finish: Mint and toffee with some sizzling pepper and oak for what makes up the longest finish in the lineup – medium to long finish.

Which is Best?

Revival, the straight bourbon, is definitely my favorite, but Revelation isn’t far behind. Refuge comes in at a clear last place for me.

I love rye whiskey, but Refuge doesn’t do it for me. There’s a ton of spices in there, but none of the ones I look for.

Revelation, on the other hand, has that nice rye spice with some citrus and mint. The downside is that the rest of it is so light. It’s an enjoyable sipper, but there’s very little bourbon character, and the aging in alligator char doesn’t seem to do much for it. The more I drink it, the more I get caramel and toffee, and the more I like it. Unfortunately, it still doesn’t have enough to pass up Revival.

I feel almost the same about Revival as I did Heaven’s Door Single Barrel. it’s not the best out there, but it’s a good, traditional, classic bourbon. Oak, leather, cherries, vanilla and caramel, with some pepper and cinnamon. It’s exactly what you think of when you think bourbon.

Summary

Heaven’s Door may not be crafting their own American whiskey and bourbon quite yet, but they are on the road of distilling and aging whiskey as we speak. While I really didn’t like their rye whiskey, Heaven’s Door has shown they know what a good whiskey is. Let’s hope they have the skill and know-how to produce it on their own.

I look forward to enjoying Heaven’s Door In house distilled whiskey, but will enjoy their sourced selections in the meantime.