Heaven Hill Grain To Glass Specialty Barrel Chinquapin Rye Whiskey 2025
Heaven Hill Grain To Glass Specialty Barrel Chinquapin Rye Whiskey 2025 is a 107-proof (53.5% ABV), 700mL, 6-year Kentucky straight rye whiskey, fully aged in hand-selected Chinquapin oak barrels and bottled non-chill filtered. It's the inaugural 2025 release of the Grain to Glass Specialty Barrel Series — $129.99 MSRP, limited edition — available to order online at Del Mesa Liquor, San Diego, CA.
Heaven Hill, family-owned since 1935 in Bardstown, KY and the largest independent family-owned U.S. distillery, built Grain to Glass on total transparency — every ingredient traced from a single seed: Beck's 6225 corn grown by Peterson Farms in Nelson County, KY, on a 63% rye / 24% corn / 13% malted barley mash bill. The Specialty Barrel Series extends that transparency to the wood: rare Chinquapin oak (in collaboration with Independent Stave Company), whose higher vanillin content, per the distillery, gives whiskeys "a rich mouthfeel and plenty of layers on the finish" with shared series aromas of "créme brûlée, chocolate and coffee."
Tasting notes (official Heaven Hill press-release language): rich mouthfeel with layers on the finish; aromas of crème brûlée, chocolate, and coffee from the Chinquapin oak. Retailers add: nose of cocoa, roasted coffee, dark fruit, and toasted oak; palate of bold rye spice, butterscotch, honey, and caramelized orange peel; long warming finish of chocolate, oak, and baking spice.
Why buy: Chinquapin oak is a rarity in whiskey — and a full 6-year maturation in it (not a finish) is rarer still. This is grain-to-glass provenance you can audit from the transparency panel: the seed, the farm, the barrel. More rye whiskey at Del Mesa Liquor or browse Heaven Hill at Del Mesa Liquor.
FAQ — people also ask:
Q: What is Chinquapin oak?
A: A white-oak family member prized for higher vanillin content — Heaven Hill aged this rye its full 6 years in Chinquapin barrels rather than just finishing it.
Q: Is the 2025 Chinquapin Rye cask strength?
A: Effectively — it's bottled at 107 proof, non-chill filtered, the same proof it entered the barrel at.
Q: How is Grain to Glass different from regular Heaven Hill?
A: Full seed-to-bottle traceability — the corn varietal and the farm that grew it are disclosed. Compare with the distillery's bourbon range at Del Mesa Liquor.