Review #231: Blackened x Rabbit Hole: A Cask Strength Bourbon Blend Finished in Calvados Casks

MASH BILL and AGE:

• 13 yr Tennessee bourbon (64% corn, 36% rye)
• 4 yr Rabbit Hole Heigold High Rye Double Malt bourbon (70% corn, 25% malted German rye, 5% malted barley)

PROOF: 106.59

COST: $50 for 750mL bottle (South Carolina)

In 2023, Blackened’s Rob Dietrich partnered with Rabbit Hole’s Kaveh Zamanian to create this release: Blackened x Rabbit Hole. A blend of 13-year high rye Tennessee bourbon and 4 year Rabbit Hole Heigold bourbon is finished in Calvados apple brandy casks. After trying various whiskey styles finished in apple brandy casks, I’ve come to learn that anything finished in apple brandy has a better than decent chance of jiving with my palate. This is a bottle that I wanted to try when it first came out, but I didn’t want to pull the trigger at an MSRP of $150. But recently, a store near me put about 30 cases of this expression on sale for $50 a bottle. After seeing some other reviews of this, I knew this had the potential to be a top value expression for me. Let’s check it out!

Reviewed neat in a Glencairn.

APPEARANCE: Baked cinnamon apple color (1.6), thick like honey! It leaves a ring of tiny beads on the glass that slowly coalesce over a good half minute into a syrupy ring and then about another minute later you finally get slow, fat legs.

NOSE: Undeniable apple notes and lovely spices. Honeycrisp apple drizzled with honey, warm cinnamon stick, and a touch of Luxardo cherry. There’s an expressed lemon peel note that gives this some brightness. A dark, aged oak note gives the nose a lot of depth, and a couple classic bourbon notes of brown sugar and vanilla jump around on the nose.

PALATE: A syrupy mouthfeel with a slight astringent tingle on the tip of the tongue. Apple schnapps, cinnamon, and anise standout at first. Caramelized brown sugar starts to spread around the palate and persists into the finish. Dark stone fruit notes build in at the back of the palate with a touch of maple syrup.

FINISH: The finish is short and sweet. As robust as the nose and palate was, the finish is not that. A crisp caramel apple note and vanilla extract are present but quickly fade. A touch of aged oak and cinnamon stick linger after the sweetness fades, but all flavor is gone within a few seconds after the swallow. Quite a disappointing finish really.

RATING: 7.6/10

OVERALL: The character from the Calvados casks is persistent throughout but presented slightly differently at each phase of the sip. The 13-year Tennessee bourbon showed some great character with those dark, rich red fruit notes, some well-aged oak, and a touch of maple syrup (Lincoln county process, perhaps?). The nose and palate were exactly what I wanted this whiskey to be, but the finish was just too short! It had some great notes but was over WAY too quickly. It wasn’t bad, just abbreviated. I find I sip through a dram of this much quicker than other whiskeys just because that finish dies off so quickly and I’m wanting more of the flavor. The finish just holds this back from being excellent.

 

1 | Disgusting | see my 1/10 ratings

2 | Poor | see my 2/10 ratings

3 | Bad | see my 3/10 ratings

4 | Sub-par | see my 4/10 ratings

5 | Good | see my 5/10 ratings

6 | Very Good | see my 6/10 ratings

7 | Great | see my 7/10 ratings

8 | Excellent | see my 8/10 ratings

9 | Incredible | see my 9/10 ratings

10 | Perfect | see my 10/10 ratings