Larceny Barrel Proof B522 Review

Rising from the ashes of Prohibition and into the midst of the Great Depression in Bardstown, KY, Heaven Hill Distillery has grown to be the largest independent family-owned and operated producer of distilled spirits products in the US, and the second-largest holder of bourbon whiskey inventory in the world. The distillery was set up in 1935 after a small group approached the Shapira family seeking capital investment to set up a distillery using their technical expertise. Following personal financial difficulties among the other members of the founding group, their interests in the “Old Heavenhill Springs” distillery was bought out by the Shapira family making the distillery a fully family-owned enterprise. With renewed purpose, the family kept on one of the original investors, James L. Beam as Master Distiller, and hired the best bourbon producing talent they could find in their local Bardstown. Four years later in 1939, they released their first product, a 4-year-old Bottled in Bond bourbon under the Old Heaven Hill brand. The brand quickly became one of the top-selling bourbons in the State and cemented the distillery’s position as one of the top bourbon producers in Kentucky at the time. The name of the distillery originates from the family name of William Heavenhill who was an early pioneer farmer and owned the original property on which the distillery sat. When originally registering the company a clerical mistake resulted in the name becoming Heaven Hill as opposed to Heavenhill.

On November 7th 1996 a fire that started in one of the barrel ageing warehouses spread by strong winds, destroying almost the entire distillery and numerous ageing warehouses. Overall 90,000 barrels of whisky were lost and for the next 3 years, the company was dependent on production capacity in neighbouring distilleries. In 1999 Heaven Hill completed the purchase of the Old Bernheim Distillery from Diageo in Louisville and once the distillery was adapted, the production and distillation end moved to Louisville whilst ageing, bottling, and shipping still occur on the original Bardstown site.

Today the modern iteration of the company, Heaven Hill Brands, has become a diversified supplier of whiskeys, liqueurs, vodkas, rums, and other spirits. They own 62 rickhouses in Central KY and distribute hundreds of brands. Under the Heaven Hill Distillery portfolio, they produce award-winning products such as Henry McKenna, Elijah Craig, Evan William, Larceny, Old Fitzgerald, and Rittenhouse rye to name a few. The distillery also has the largest number of Bottled in Bond whiskies on the market and is the only heritage distiller that features every major category of American whiskey in their 5 distinct mashbills producing traditional bourbon, wheated bourbon, rye whiskey, corn whiskey, and wheat whiskey. Under 7th Master Distiller (and fellow countryman) Conor O’Driscoll the distillery is on course to fill almost 400,000 barrels this year and with continued investment production capacity is growing every year to meet rising demand.  

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First launched in 2012, Larceny Bourbon is a wheated bourbon that is named in honour of John E. Fitzgerald who, according to legend, was a treasury agent who used his keys to the warehouses to pilfer Bourbon from the best barrels, thus committing larceny. In fact, the story has it that Fitzgerald’s palate was so good at finding the best barrels that S.C Herbst who owned the “Old Fitz” brand from the 1880s through Prohibition, and “Pappy” Van Winkle who purchased the brand during Prohibition and made it his signature label, both decided to immortalise Fitzgerald by creating and maintaining the namesake brand. Whether Fitzgerald was actually a treasury agent with a penchant for draining honey barrels in the night, or whether he was a historical distiller who used wheat as the flavouring grain in his bourbon instead of rye, the Old Fitzgerald brand still exists to this day and Larceny honours the unofficial side of Fitzgerald’s supposed history. Larceny Bourbon continues the Old Fitzgerald tradition of using wheat in place of rye, using winter wheat to replace the spicier, fruitier flavour notes that rye provides with a softer, rounder character that is the hallmark of Old Fitzgerald and other “wheated” Bourbons such as Maker’s Mark and the Van Winkle line.  What separates Larceny from its competitors is that it uses Heaven Hill’s wheated bourbon mashbill which contains just over a third more wheat than its next competitor, thus making for a softer drinking experience.

Traditionally bottled at 92 proof, Larceny Small Batch is aimed at the premium market and produced from dumps of 200 or fewer barrels that have been selected from the 4th, 5th and 6th floors of Heaven Hill’s open rick warehouses in Nelson County, KY. Larceny features bourbon aged from 6 to 12 years old and therefore sits towards the older end of the readily available wheated bourbon spectrum. In 2020, Heaven Hill released the first line extension under the Larceny Brand, Larceny Barrel Proof. Following the template set out by Elijah Craig Barrel Proof, it is a non-chill filtered and bottled straight from the barrel mingling of bourbon aged between 6 and 8 years old, and thus “offers whiskey fans an opportunity to taste Larceny as Heaven Hill’s Master Distiller does, straight out of the barrel and non-chill filtered,” according to Heaven Hill.

Today I’ll be looking at the second batch of Larceny Barrel Proof released in 2022 – B522.

Vital Stats:

Name: Larceny Barrel Proof
Age: NAS blend of 6-8 y.o. bourbon
Proof: 123.8 Proof (61.9% ABV)
Type: Kentucky straight ‘wheated’ bourbon
Mashbill: 68% corn, 20% wheat, 12% malted barley
Producer: Heaven Hill Distillery
Website: https://larcenybourbon.com/home/
Glassware: Glencairn

Review

Nose: The nose opens with bold and sweet red and black fruits stewed in rich maple syrup and dusted with earthy baking spices. This is followed by barrel-driven notes of toasted almonds, cloves, dark chocolate, charred oak, and a thick herbaceous edge. As you nose deeper the fruit and charred oak notes continue to develop in complexity alongside a kick of heat from the ethanol.

Palate: The palate opens very viscous with thick dark caramels and sweet red and black fruit enveloping the tongue before the signature kick of peppery spice builds on the mid-palate making the caramels sweeter and the fruits a touch tarter. Once the spice fades some warmth remains and drives mild charred oak notes of dark chocolate, a touch of cloves, faint barrel mint, and fire-roasted honeyed almonds.

Finish: The finish opens with lingering dark caramel sweetness, dried fruit, earthy barrel spices, dark chocolate, and faint wheat all wrapped up in a warm Kentucky hug. The aftertaste is long and remains dry and fruity with tannins lingering on the palate.

Overall

We are now on the eighth release of Larceny Barrel proof and somehow it still hasn’t lost its magic! Similar to previous releases this batch is packed full of complex layers of flavour working in tandem with the proof to deliver the full spectrum of Larceny’s flavour profile. What surprised me most about this batch was that it has one of the syrup-iest mouthfeels I’ve ever experienced and left me almost licking my lips. This viscosity also has the added benefit of coating the palate with concentrated flavours, keeping them in place for longer to peel away and reveal their delicate nuances. In fact, sipping this it almost feels like I’m eating an intricately designed desert.

With a couple of drops of water, the concentrated flavours immediately expand and it loses some of the tannic heat on the palate, allowing even more subtle flavours to shine through.  The caramel and fruit notes also combine further to become akin to a red toffee apple, whilst just a touch of heat remains to keep the flavours present.

Reflecting back to the first release of Larceny Barrel Proof this has been a fantastic addition to the Larceny range and Heaven Hill’s bourbon portfolio in general. Each batch has delivered an element of uniqueness despite sharing the same core larceny DNA and every time a new batch arrives I’m blown away by the quality of the bourbon. The skill and passion of the team in Heaven Hill shines through in every drop of these whiskies and I can’t wait to taste the next batch. What has also surprised me is that they have found room for improvement on each new batch with his release being at a level where if they put it in a fancy bottle and charged twice the price I couldn’t even argue that the quality wasn’t there to justify it.

If you’ve tried this release, let me know in the comments what you think of it and the Larceny Barrel Proof experience!

Try or Buy?

With an RRP of $50, this is one of the best buys in bourbon at present!