Whiskey Review: Heaven Hill Green Label Bourbon

Every now and then, a bottle comes along that earns a cult following, not because it's flashy or rare, but because it's reliable, delicious, and absurdly affordable. For a long time, Heaven Hill Green Label was exactly that. Technically labeled as "Heaven Hill Old Style Bourbon," this 6-year age-stated bourbon became a beloved inside secret among whiskey fans, sporting a big green label and a price tag around $10–$15.

Today, we're reviewing Heaven Hill Green Label Bourbon… posthumously. That's right: this bottle has been discontinued. In its place, Heaven Hill released a 7-year Bottled-in-Bond expression for around $40. And while the age and base mash bill may be similar (78% corn, 10% rye, 12% malted barley) the value proposition certainly isn’t.

So how does this budget-friendly bourbon hold up now that it’s gone? Let’s find out.

Nose

Brad: The nose is beautiful, Bob. It's candy corn. It's cornbread. There's some caramel. There's oatmeal cookie. And then once you sit with it for a while—you get into those rye baking spices. But for the most part, it's a really fresh-grain sweet mess of awesomeness.

Brad’s Score: 8/10

Bob: I am kind of regretting not being there with you right now for this fresh popped bottle. I think mine has oxidized a little bit. It's been sitting open for so long and there's so little left in the bottle that I just think it's kind of dulled. I'm getting a lot of oak, a lot of sawdust. You had a really nice note that I love, which was oatmeal cookie. I'm getting a little bit of that, but I think it’s mostly because it reminds me of oats so much. It's not grainy, but it's grain-forward, if that makes sense. I wish there was more of that brown sugar and caramel on my sample, knowing what it used to smell like when this bottle was fresh.

Bob’s Score: 7/10

Taste

Brad: The palate for me turned a little more sweet. There was caramel and vanilla coming through really strong. There was corn on the cob with some butter on it, mixed with all that rye you were talking about. So there's a nice balance of flavors here.

Brad’s Score: 7.5/10

Bob: Your notes are so on-point today. Cornbread with salted butter is a perfect description, except it’s got a little bit more potent rye behind that. It's not sour, but there's a bit of smoke, a little bitterness, to go with this really buttery mouthfeel. I like this a lot. Usually, it's not like wine where whiskey goes "bad," but there's some science behind the idea that once you’ve drunk more than half the bottle, the air takes its toll.

Bob’s Score: 7.5/10

Finish

Brad: There’s baking spices, there’s oak, the vanilla sticks around, and the oatmeal cookie goes from being a sweet, fresh baked cookie into tasting more like a regular bowl of oatmeal with a bit of brown sugar on it. I like the finish a lot. It comes up a little from the palate.

Brad’s Score: 8/10

Bob: Honestly, the note that hangs on the longest is Coca-Cola—but also salted butter. There’s just a bit of saline I wasn’t expecting. That buttery mouthfeel plus the saline makes me think of putting some butter on a piece of cornbread or a corn muffin. Really, really good. It’s long-lasting for being a 90-proof, $15 whiskey.

Bob’s Score: 8.5/10

Balance

Brad: There’s just enough complexity to keep the score somewhat high, but honestly, Bob, this is just a nice, simple bourbon that checks all the boxes you want it to check.

Brad’s Score: 7.5/10

Bob: Yeah, I think I’m going to give it an 8. Like you said, it’s not really anything to write home about, but it is just consistent across the board. It’s good enough that you could drink it neat, put it on a rock, or mix it into an Old Fashioned. It stands up really well. I prefer this flavor profile to something more oak-heavy like Buffalo Trace, and I think that’s why I gravitated toward this so early in my bourbon journey.

Bob’s Score: 8/10

Value

Bob: Value is going to be an interesting one because you can’t really buy it anymore. I mean, I’m sure you can buy it online… what are you seeing price-wise?

Brad: Unfortunately, you really can't find this online anymore. I tried to search for it and only one place came up—for $175.

Bob: Welp. I don’t really know how to score this, man. It is like a 0/10 for $175. I would not recommend even looking at this for $175.

Brad: I’m just going to score this as if it’s 2017 and you can still get it for like $14–$15. At that price, this whiskey was a 10/10. Easily the best value in whiskey. It's even better than Rebel 100, Bob.

Bob: Let’s just say for the sake of argument that what we’re scoring this on is a pour of whiskey at a bar. They’re probably charging 15 bucks a pour for this now. You’d be paying as much for a pour as you used to for a bottle. With that in mind, I think I’m going to give it a 6/10.

Brad: Yeah, I would say that’s fair. This is just an unfortunate reality of the whiskey world. A lot of great whiskeys get snapped up or they change hands and the recipe changes. Like Early Times Bottled in Bond—they changed hands. There is such a plethora of whiskey right now that you can find tons of great whiskey for $20–$30. But just let us have this one, guys. We’re sad.

Bob’s Score: 6/10
Brad’s Score: 8/10 (scored realistically, not historically)

Final Scores

Bob’s Final Score: 37/50
Brad’s Final Score: 39/50
Average: 38/50

For us, the 35/50 mark is where we typically recommend either trying a pour at a bar or picking up a bottle. At 38/50, Heaven Hill Green Label lands well above that line, especially when judged by its former price point. It’s a relic of a different time, when age-stated bourbon was affordable, and $15 could get you something worth sipping neat.

We might be mourning a product that’s no longer available, but this bottle represents something more: a window into the bourbon world before the boom. For those of us who remember, it was a beautiful thing.