Parker's Heritage 2025's Three-Mashbill Blend Is a Winning Formula

Each year since 2007, Heaven Hill Distillery releases a new expression in its sought-after Parker’s Heritage Collection. The collectible series gets its name from legendary master distiller Parker Beam—grandnephew of Jim Beam—who spent nearly six decades working at the distillery, during which he created such iconic labels as Elijah Craig Small Batch, Evan Williams Vintage Single Barrel, Rittenhouse Rye, and others. Beam was diagnosed with ALS in 2010, and shifted into an emeritus position at the distillery until his death in 2017. As a way of paying tribute to him, every Parker’s Heritage release from 2013 onward contributed a portion of its sales toward ALS research—raising more than $1.4 million over the years.

The collection is best known for its many creative expressions, which often showcase an experimental production process. Each batch typically starts with well-aged whiskey and features an interesting maturation, finishing cask, or unique mashbill. This year’s version isn’t a finished whiskey, but it triples down on the other two categories: showcasing the art of blending by combining 160 barrels representing three different types of ultra-aged whiskeys.

Far Flung Ingredients

The oldest whiskey in the blend is a 15 year old wheated bourbon with a mashbill of 68% corn, 20% wheat, and 12% malted barley—the same recipe used in some of its other wheaters like Larceny and Old Fitzgerald. Aged in Rickhouse A, which is located on the former site of Glencoe Distillery just north of Bardstown, it comprises 40% of the blend.

A 20% share is taken by an 11 year old corn whiskey made from 80% corn, 12% malted barley, and 8% rye. It’s the same mashbill that Heaven Hill uses to make Mellow Corn, a 4 year old corn whiskey that’s a bit underrated as a sipper but is widely popular with mixologists for its straightforward sweet profile that works well in a wide array of cocktails.

The remaining 40% of the blend accounts for what’s perhaps the most interesting ingredient. Unlike the other two, which use standard mashbills found in other Heaven Hill whiskeys, this one is unique to the blend. It’s a 12 year old American whiskey with a 50/50 mashbill of rye and malted barley. That unusual mashbill prevents it from being classified as either a rye (which requires at least 51% rye) or a malt whiskey (requiring at least 51% malted barley), so it falls somewhere in between.

According to master distiller Conor O’Driscoll, the rye/malt component was the result of a very limited production run. “We’ve been testing and experimenting with a variety of malt blends for several years. For the 50/50 rye malt, we liked the taste profile and felt it had the perfect balance of earthiness from the malt, as well as spice from the rye,” he said. “However, we hadn’t produced too much of it because we knew it couldn’t have an official designation as a rye malt or malt, given the 50/50 blend. We found this Parker’s release as the perfect opportunity to utilize it.”

How Does it Taste?

We’ve seen the Parker’s Heritage Collection go down the blending route before, with editions 6 and 16 (released in 2012 and 2022) both including multiple mashbills. But this new version is unique in that it contains multiple styles of whiskey rather than just bourbon. Ask any blender and they’ll tell you that combining styles of whiskey can be challenging, as different profiles that taste great on their own can sometimes clash for the spotlight instead of creating harmony. But we think O’Driscoll stuck the landing here and created a very impressive whiskey.

Parker’s Heritage 19th Edition: 11 year old American Whiskey (2025 Release)

Final Score: 94
ABV: 61.25%
SRP: $180
Availability: Limited, but nationwide

Peanuts, unbuttered popcorn, milk chocolate, chocolate frosting, vanilla, pipe tobacco, and sweet oak on a complex, very inviting nose. On the palate, it’s a bit hot and could use a rock, but it holds its proof well, delivering a thick and rich mouthfeel, generous red berries, orange slices, more chocolate, almond, coconut, baked cherries, and bitter espresso. The finish has great texture and offers more red berries and rich dark chocolate, asserting themselves at the end.—David Fleming