Review #264-266: Found North Hell Diver Trilogy Compared

Found North is bringing the High Altitude Hell Diver line to an end with its 2026 release. Starting in 2024, Hell Diver First Flight brought a blend with a focus on the Pedro Ximenez Sherry casks used for finishing. However, the PX Sherry casks proved to be finicky and resulted in a lot of barrels not being used for the final blend of Hell Diver First Flight. In 2025, Found North tried again by adjusting the initial blend to make a more formidable foundation that could hold up to the PX Sherry casks. Additionally, more Cognac casks were used in the Hell Diver 2025 blend to bring out more fruit and tempered tannins. However, Found North felt like the Hell Diver profile still had more to give. With Hell Diver 2026, they replaced the Cognac barrels with Oloroso Sherry barrels. While PX Sherry barrels are still the focal piece that makes Hell Diver what it is, the use of Oloroso Sherry barrels helps bring some earthier tones that help balance the overall whiskey. Let’s do a deep dive (a Hell Dive if you will) into these three today.

Hell Diver First Flight

GRAIN RATIO: 85% corn, 14% rye, 1% malted barley

PROOF: 119

BLEND: The initial blend features:

• 15yr, 22yr, and 23yr corn whiskey
• 18yr and 19yr rye whiskey

This blend was recasked into Pedro Ximenez Sherry casks, Cognac casks, and New American oak casks and each cask allowed to age to its peak maturation (no more than 1 year). The final blend only used about 2/3 of all casks targeted for this project.

COST: $160 for 750mL bottle (I’m reviewing a sample. Thanks to u/prettayyprettaygood for sharing a sample with me that I’ve been sitting on for over a year waiting to do a comparison like this.)

Reviewed neat in a Glencairn unless otherwise noted.

APPEARANCE: Auburn (1.5), beads well and slow to form fat teardrop legs.

NOSE: An astringent sweetness. Overripe fig, chocolate fondue, and caramel sauce. When we visited Germany last year, we had these little fruit cake/tarts called Obstukchen that were kind of like sponge cakes filled with fresh orchard fruit and vanilla custard. I’m getting a very pastry like, fruit cake smell that makes me think of Obstukchen. Notes of strawberry dances around the palate. There is a sharp astringentness that is hard to overlook as it tingles the nose.

PALATE: Oily mouthfeel with a slight bite from the proof. There is a lot of spice on the palate with some sweetness weaving in and out. Cinnamon stick, browned butter, spiced figs, nutmeg, allspice, and dark chocolate are all prominent. Buttered graham crackers appear a little later. Vanilla extract and a touch of wine-soaked oak round out the palate.

FINISH: Medium length, sweet finish. Most of the spice from the palate dies out early and the finish leaves you primarily with rich, dark sweet notes. Stewed figs, dates, and dark cherries, chocolate sauce, and a touch of tannins and cinnamon sugar.

RATING: 8.2/10

OVERALL: Complex and flavorful. The nose, palate, and finish are all a bit detached. The nose leans into sweet pastry notes, the palate is full of spice, and the finish is full of dark fruit sweetness. They all have a few notes that string them together, but it will run your senses through a wild ride.

Hell Diver 2025

GRAIN RATIO: 86% corn, 13% rye, 1% malted barley

PROOF: 112.4

BLEND: The initial blend features:

• 17yr, 20yr, and 24yr corn whiskey
• 22yr rye whiskey

This blend was recasked into Pedro Ximenez Sherry casks, Cognac casks, and New American oak casks (less New American oak and more Cognac casks as compared to Hell Diver First Flight) and each cask allowed to age for 7 additional months.

COST: $165 for 750mL bottle (Found North)

Reviewed neat in a Glencairn unless otherwise noted.

APPEARANCE: Auburn (1.5), beads well and slow to form fat teardrop legs.

NOSE: Pastry sweetness with a tannic touch. Similar to Hell Diver First Flight (HDFF), this starts off with dark fruit, chocolate fondue, and melted caramel chews. The lighter fruit notes of strawberry and Obstkuchen that I got with First Flight are replaced with more tannic notes and dark fruit sweetness that reminds me of port wine. The astringentness that I get in HDFF is more suppressed and not as sharp as it was in HDFF, but not completely extinguished.

PALATE: The mouthfeel isn’t quite as viscous as HDFF, and the notes on the palate aren’t quite as robust though it is less spice forward. Tannic oak, dark cherry pie filling, a dusting of cinnamon powder, and baker’s chocolate. It leans more earthy than HDFF and HD2026. Burnt caramel and toasted nuts show up later and play well with the notes I get on the landing.

FINISH: Long, dry finish. This finish is quite opposite as HDFF, and is not what I expected given the differences in production of the two releases. Dark chocolate cherry cordial, burnt caramel, and toasted nuts dusted with cinnamon sugar. Tannic oak is present throughout and the tannins really create a dry feeling on the palate.

RATING: 8.2/10

OVERALL: Hell Diver 2025 has a more consistent profile from nose to finish than HDFF. That said, the palate was not quite as robust as HDFF. Additionally, given that this has more Cognac cask finishing in the blend and less new American oak as compared to HDFF, I expected the finish to lean sweeter. However, I found this finish to be more earthy and drying, but also more complex than HDFF. The palate was more balanced and less spice forward palate than HDFF, but it was more balanced by earthy notes than additional sweetness. I enjoyed this pour more overall because of the more congruent profile throughout the sip, but HDFF did get a bump in the overall rating due to its more robust notes on the palate.

Hell Diver 2026

GRAIN RATIO: 88% corn, 11% rye, 1% malted barley

PROOF: 124.2

BLEND: The initial blend features:

• 40% 16 yr corn whiskey aged in used American oak barrels
• 24% 16 yr corn whiskey aged in new American oak barrels
• 15% 20 yr corn whiskey aged in used American oak barrels
• 12% 16 yr rye whiskey aged in used French oak barrels
• 5% 25 yr corn whiskey aged in used American oak barrels
• 4% 22yr corn whiskey aged in new American oak barrels

This component blend was then allowed to go through secondary maturation in one of four barrel types. The final blend of Hell Diver 2026 consisted of:

• 71.84% first-fill PX sherry casks
• 12.83% ISC Cooper’s Reserve, 24 mo, air-seasoned, heavy toast, char #2 new oak barrels
• 11.05% first-fill Oloroso sherry casks
• 4.27% ISC Cooper’s Reserve, 24 mo, air-seasoned, heavy toast, chart #1 new oak barrels

COST: $170 for 750mL bottle (Found North)

Reviewed neat in a Glencairn unless otherwise noted.

APPEARANCE: Dark auburn (1.6), beads well and slow to form fat teardrop legs.

NOSE: While Hell Diver First Flight (HDFF) and Hell Diver 2025 (HD2025) were fairly similar on the nose, HD2026 is quite different. Coffee cake, caramelized maple syrup, blackberry fruit chews, and lemon peel. Red Hot candies provide a spice and bite, but the astringentness that I got on HDFF and to some extent on HD2025 are eliminated despite this being the highest proof of the three.

PALATE: Viscous and coating on the palate. The profile is a crazy sort of perfect intersection of HDFF and HD2025. It’s brighter than both of its predecessors while still leaning into dark, deep, chewy notes that Hell Diver is supposed to represent. Coffee cake, dark chocolate coated toasted, salted nuts, and Heath candy bar are highlighted, but fruit notes are still abound. Spice figs and plums and a blackberry and brown sugar reduction really bring a jammy like quality to the palate towards the back half before going into the finish. Specific spice notes of nutmeg and allspice stand out the most for HD2026 as well.

FINISH: The finish is long and balanced. The toasted nuts, mocha, and spice notes just carry on as smooth as ever from the palate and into the finish. Caramelized sugar and plum add a nice sweetness that compliment those earthy notes that carry over. Strangely enough, vanilla did not standout anywhere else, but that is the note that lingers on the longest from this pour.

RATING: 9.1/10

OVERALL: The fine folks over at Found North have a special skill when it comes to the blending black magic that they do, and I believe it’s highlighted by the progression of the Hell Diver series. While HDFF was good and had robust flavors, they made tweaks that resulted in a more balanced profile in HD2025. However, they weren’t satisfied with HD2025 and made additional changes that led to HD2026, which is an incredible whiskey that shows their prowess at blending. For HD2026, the dessert cake-like nose really sets the stage honestly. Everything after that just falls into place and isn’t unexpected. It’s well balanced and overall, just a great pour. The Oloroso sherry cask replacing the Cognac casks eliminated the “hot” character from the previous releases as well as adding enough nuttiness and dryness to perfectly balance the sweetness of the PX sherry finish. While I generally enjoy Cognac finishes, it appears the Cognac finishing casks in the Hell Diver series were holding it back a bit.

Conclusion

This review wasn’t intended to be a “which release is best” sort of review. Found North basically established that by the natural progression of the release – the only reason they kept releasing a new Hell Diver release was they felt they could improve on it. While I understand that all palates are different and certainly there are some that probably like Hell Diver First Flight or Hell Diver 2025 more than Hell Diver 2026, the methodical approach that Found North used to improve this blend resonated with me in my reviews.

As I try and be uninfluenced in my reviews and do my best to hold off on reading reviews others did of a whiskey before I release my own review, that was hard considering HDFF was released 2 years ago. However, I have abstained from reading Found North’s own tasting notes of them until I finished documenting my own reviews. One thing I found interesting in their notes of HD2026 was that while HD2025 was improved, it wasn’t necessarily better than HDFF. Funny enough, that’s practically replicated in my 8.2/10 overall review in each. HD2026 was that sort of “we have arrived” experience. It was noticeably improved over the first two releases, while the first two releases showed progression, but not necessarily an overall improvement.

This was a fun review to do. It really homed in on how the finishing process specifically changes a whiskey profile. That said, the initial blends for each were not the same. It was noted as much in Found North’s own write-up that they believed the rye whiskey profile of the first two releases were too brash and that was changed. Again though, I think this all just reiterates Found North’s blending ability.

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