Larceny Barrel Proof (A123) 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 were 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 again 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 named in honour of John E. Fitzgerald, a treasury agent who reportedly used his keys to pilfer Bourbon from the best barrels, thus committing larceny. Legend has it that Fitzgerald’s exceptional palate for finding the finest barrels impressed S.C Herbst, the owner of the “Old Fitz” brand from the 1880s through Prohibition, as well as “Pappy” Van Winkle, who purchased the brand during Prohibition and made it his signature label. They both decided to immortalize Fitzgerald by creating and maintaining the namesake brand. While the truth about Fitzgerald’s background remains uncertain—whether he was a treasury agent with a taste for savouring honey barrels under the cover of darkness or a historical distiller who used wheat instead of rye as the flavouring grain—Old Fitzgerald and its unofficial connection to Fitzgerald’s supposed history persist to this day. Larceny Bourbon follows the Old Fitzgerald tradition of using wheat instead of rye, employing winter wheat to create a softer, rounder character that characterizes Old Fitzgerald and other “wheated” Bourbons like Maker’s Mark and the Van Winkle line. What sets Larceny apart from its competitors is its use of Heaven Hill’s wheated bourbon mashbill, which contains over a third more wheat than its closest rival, resulting in a smoother drinking experience.

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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.

Vital Stats:

Name: Larceny Barrel Proof
Age: NAS blend of 6-8 y.o. bourbon
Proof: 125.8 Proof (62.9% 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 slightly dark caramels complimented by faintly tart red fruits, earthy spices like black pepper, hints of wheat, and faintly herbaceous charred oak. As you nose deeper the caramels continue to gain traction alongside sweet fruit notes and a developing toasted almond note which emerges from the wheat notes.

Palate: The palate opens viscous with thick dark caramels, big black cherries, and strawberries quickly followed by a dry tannic oak kick. This brings with it a faintly herbaceous peppery wheat heat that warms the mid-palate. As you keep chewing and some of the heat dies down, more sweet dark caramel, cacao, herbaceous barrel notes, and wheat notes emerge alongside some concentrated fruit notes, baking spices, and lingering heat.

Finish: The finish opens with lingering spice from the palate, dark caramels, dry cacao, wheat, sweet fruits, and a faint herbaceousness opening up into an aftertaste of dark cacao, wheat, cherries, dark caramel and a touch of herbaceous.

Overall 

Larceny Barrel Proof is off to a strong start in 2023 with another release that I would highly recommend. This release captures all the characteristics of a great barrel-proof wheated bourbon whilst also tasting slightly older with some of the herbaceous notes I’d typically get from older Heaven Hill whiskies making an interesting appearance throughout. Looking back over previous releases it appears Heaven Hill like to hit the ground running with January releases which potentially have a larger proportion of older stocks. This is reflected in other popular barrel-proof releases such as Elijah Craig and now Bernheim Barrel Proof, with Elijah Craig barrel-proof tasting particularly old in its January release this year.

As one of Heaven Hill’s limited releases, Larceny Barrel Proof releases continue to perform very well with each release maintaining the core Larceny profile and adding its own flourishes. In this release, the focus appears to be heavily directed at the caramel and fruit notes. Add a solid herbaceous oak footing and it’s easy to see why this performs so well. With 5 drops of water, the sharper oak and tart fruit notes are transformed as the nose becomes caramel-heavy with toasted notes of almonds and oak, barrel spices, big fruit, and wheat cereal notes also coming through. The palate also brightens up with softer caramels, dark cherries and notes of strawberry, milk chocolate, and of course a touch of lingering heat as herbaceous tannic spice. Look no further if you’re a fan of wheated bourbons and want to treat your palate to a barrel-proof, straight-from-the-barrel, wheated bourbon with one of the highest wheat percentages on the market. Also, try repeating that statement after a few sips of this bourbon!

Try or Buy?

With an RRP of $50, this remains one of the best buys in bourbon!