Heaven Hill Grain To Glass Rye Review – 2nd Edition – 2025 Release

Heaven Hill
Grain To Glass
Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey
2nd Edition – 2025 Release
105.2 Proof
Age: 6 Years
SRP: $99.99 / 700ml
Review

Please enjoy our 2nd Edition Heaven Hill Grain To Glass Rye Whiskey Review! (2025 release)

Grain To Glass

According to Heaven Hill’s website: “Since 1935, Heaven Hill Distillery has focused on the importance of both family and creating quality whiskeys. We believe that quality whiskeys come from quality ingredients. And quality ingredients come from long-standing, trusted partnerships that were built on handshakes, not contracts.”

“Heaven Hill Grain to Glass highlights this commitment to family and quality by partnering with two family-owned businesses, and taking quality and transparency one step further – starting with the seed.” The family-owned businesses referred to are Peterson Farms and Beck’s Hybrids.

The series debuted in 2024 with a “rye” bourbon, a wheated bourbon and a rye. It’s back again for 2025, and this year, as part of Heaven Hill’s Family Farms First initiative, a portion of every sale of Heaven Hill Grain to Glass—up to $100,000 annually—is donated to Farm Rescue: an organization dedicated to providing farm and ranch families with aid in times of crisis.

Heaven Hill Grain To Glass Rye 2nd Edition – The Details

The second edition of Heaven Hill Grain to Glass Rye Whiskey is made with a mashbill of 63% rye, 24% corn, and 13% malted barley— a higher rye content than Heaven Hill’s traditional Rye Whiskeys*. Beck’s Hybrids 6225 was the corn seed varietal chosen for the second edition and was grown by family-owned Peterson Farms on one of two sites in Nelson County, Kentucky. The distillate went into the barrel at 107 proof and was aged for over six years at Heaven Hill’s Cox’s Creek rickhouse site. The whiskey is non-chill filtered and bottled at barrel proof, 105.2 proof.

Tasting Notes – 2nd Edition Heaven Hill Grain To Glass Rye Whiskey Review (2025 release)

Let’s taste it:

🛏 Rested for 15 minutes in a Glencairn

👉🏻Nose: Moderately sweet; raspberry jam; mild rye spices like cloves; orange citrus; brown sugar; sweet cherries; mild hot cinnamon; alcohol appropriate for the proof
👉🏻Taste: Raspberry jam; relatively mild rye spices; mildly sweet from brown sugar and light caramel; hot cinnamon
👉🏻Finish: Increasingly dry; intensifying hot cinnamon spice; mild rye spices; mild raspberry jam; dry wood and barrel char in the end; long finish; pleasant deep warmth

The nose of the second edition of Heaven Hill Grain to Glass Rye is fairly sweet, with plenty of fruit from raspberry jam and sweet cherries. Rye spices, like cloves, are noticeable but relatively mild. Hot cinnamon and a bit of orange citrus bring a tart and spicy edge. The alcohol vapor is appropriate for the proof. With time, the orange citrus and hot cinnamon become more pronounced.

The taste is mildly sweet, with brown sugar, raspberry jam and light caramel. However, there is also spice from hot cinnamon that becomes increasingly noticeable as it continues into the finish. The raspberry jam lingers into the finish, as well as mild rye spices. As the cinnamon starts to fade a bit, the mouthfeel becomes increasingly dry, and there is a dry woodiness with some barrel char later on. The finish is long, and I am left with a pleasant deep warmth.

Conclusion

The 2nd edition of Heaven Hill Grain to Glass Rye is quite different from Heaven Hill’s other ryes. I am a fan of those, but I am also enjoying this one quite a bit. It has more fruit in the nose than expected, from cherries and raspberry jam. In addition, there is ever-increasing hot cinnamon throughout the sip, and a bit of a surprising dryness in the finish. It is unmistakably a rye, but the characteristic rye flavors are a bit more subdued than anticipated, presumably due in part to the relatively low rye content, as well as the barrel entry proof, grains used, and other factors. If you are looking for a rye that’s a bit more fruit-forward than most, with a very pleasant cinnamon spice, then you’ll want to give this year’s Grain to Glass Rye a try!

Have you tried the 2nd edition of Heaven Hill Grain to Glass Rye? What did you think? Cheers!🥃

We hope you have enjoyed our 2nd Edition Heaven Hill Grain To Glass Rye Whiskey Review! (2025 release). If you would like to learn more about it check out press release. Also, learn about another release from this year in our Heaven Hill Grain to Glass Bourbon 2nd Edition Review (2025)!

*Heaven Hill’s flagship ryes – Rittenhouse and Elijah Craig Rye – use a mash bill of: 51% rye, 35% corn and 14% malted barley and Pikesville Rye may use the same mash bill, or one that is slightly different, consisting of 51% rye, 39% corn and 10% malted barley.

Note: This sample was graciously provided by Heaven Hill for my review. I appreciate it!

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