Rabbit Hole has carved out quite a niche within the Kentucky bourbon community. Their Kentucky bourbon and rye whiskey has become some of the most beloved stuff sold nationwide. That’s not by accident, either. The whiskey in the bottle is stellar yet approachable and covers a broad range.
Coming off an incredible event thrown in partnership with Rabbit Hole at SXSW, we decided to break down every expression from the distillery. Rabbit Hole has grown massively in the past years, to the point that they’re no longer even one single label — they added “Mary Dowling” along with a flavored whiskey just last year. And while Kentucky bourbon is their focus, they also have a rye whiskey that we love.
Below, we’re ranking all 10 bottles from Rabbit Hole Distillery. The throughline here is simple — taste. While all of these whiskeys are quality products, some go deeper than others. As with any brand, you have to start somewhere on your journey so let’s start ours right now!
10. Mash & Mallow S’Mores Whiskey Roasted & Toasted
ABV: 35%
Average Price: $32
The Whiskey:
This flavored whiskey is made from a mash of 97% corn and 3% rye whiskeys. Flavors are added to create an essence of s’mores that are still warm from the backyard firepit.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose opens with a deep sense of buttery Graham Cracker with soft marshmallow, milk chocolate, and mild oak.
Palate: The taste is very sweet with a honeyed sense of Graham Crackers next to singed marshmallow with a hint of campfire smoke, vanilla, and caramel over more of that milk chocolate.
Finish: The end leans into the sweetness with a touch of singed oak, toasted marshmallow, and vanilla candy.
Bottom Line:
The butteriness of the Graham Cracker on the nose sells this as a well-made flavored whiskey. It feels real. That all said, this is a very sweet whiskey — your mileage with it may vary depending on your sweet tooth.
9. Rabbit Hole Cavehill Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
ABV: 47.5%
Average Price: $49
The Whiskey:
This four-grain Kentucky bourbon is made with 70% corn, 10% malted wheat, 10% honey malted barley, and 10% malted barley. That spirit is then aged for three years in toasted and charred barrels before it’s small batched from only 15 barrels, proofed, and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This has a lot of apple cobbler on the nose with sweet and bright stewed apples, plenty of dark brown spices, brown sugar, buttery pastry cobbles, and a touch of honey sweetness.
Palate: The honey becomes creamy and spiked with orange zest as the malt shines through as a digestive cookie with a hint of fresh mint and more of that honey with a flake of salt.
Finish: The finish brings about that spice again with a little more of a peppery edge this time as the fade slowly falls off, leaving you with a creamy vanilla tobacco feeling.
Bottom Line:
This is the entry point to the wider world of Rabbit Hole bourbon. This is a nice and very classic fruit-forward Kentucky bourbon with a balance of woody spice. All that makes this your best candidate for mixing cocktails.
8. Rabbit Hole Heigold Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
ABV: 47.5%
Average Price: $65
The Whiskey:
This Louisville whiskey is made with a “double malted” mash bill. The recipe calls for 70% corn, 25% malted German rye, and 5% malted barley. The hot juice goes into the barrels at a lower entry proof and rests for just over three years in toasted and charred Kelvin barrels (from the Louisville cooperage that many consider the best in the game). Only 15 of those barrels go into the final batch.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This nose is classic bourbon with deep and dark cherry, burnt orange, old vanilla pods, and a hint of licorice layered into cream soda with a sprig of fresh mint.
Palate: There’s a sense of fancy Almond Joy next to clove-studded orange candies, vanilla cake with caramel frosting, and a light mint tobacco in a cedar humidor with a twinge of leather.
Finish: The cedar, dark cherry, singe orange, and bold woody spice all pop in the finish and fade slowly away, leaving you with a well-rounded “bourbon” experience.
Bottom Line:
This is an essential “high-rye” bourbon with a nice balance of grassy warmth and caramel bourbon notes. The overall vibe is “easy sipper” which also makes a killer Manhattan or old fashioned.
7. Rabbit Hole Boxergrail Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey
ABV: 47.5%
Average Price: $52
The Whiskey:
This crafty distillery makes its rye with 95% rye and malted barley right in Louisville (and via contract distilling). The 95/5 rye hot juice is aged for three years in heavily toasted and charred barrels before batching, proofing, and bottling.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This has an interesting nose that’s part spicy pork stew (chili, umami, fat) with bright peaches, vanilla, and summer wildflowers as a counterpoint.
Palate: The palate has a hint of old cedar next to cream soda, white pepper, and crusty rye bread with a hint of caraway seed and maybe some dry fennel.
Finish: The finish brings in heavily spiced chewy tobacco packed into an old cedar box with creamy vanilla and a dash more of that powdery white pepper.
Bottom Line:
Rabbit Hole’s rye whiskey is everything that you could ever want from rye whiskey. It’s grassy, herbal, peppery, and deeply fatty with a hint of sweet fruit. In short, a complex rye that works as well as a sipper as it does as a cocktail base.
6. Mary Dowling Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey Finished in Tequila Barrels
ABV: 46.5%
Average Price: $74
The Whiskey:
This new whiskey celebrates Mary Dowling, who helped create and then save the whiskey industry in Kentucky back in the early 20th century. The whiskey in the bottle is a three-year-old bourbon from Rabbit Hole. Those barrels are batched and the whiskey is rested again, this time in reposado tequila barrels, until just right.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Floral honey and soft black licorice lean toward fresh and real root beer on the nose with a light moment of white pepper and roasted agave that’s accented by bold winter spice barks and berries with a whisper of orange rind.
Palate: That orange drives the bright palate toward a moment of smoked winter spices (smoldering barks if you will) before creamy eggnog and vanilla buttercream drive the palate back toward warming winter spice and a fleeting note of pepper.
Finish: That pepper builds towards sharp black peppercorns on the finish with sharp winter spice, a hint of buttermilk, and softly spoken notes of roasted agave attached to candied orange and vanilla paste.
Bottom Line:
This is a great candidate for citrus-forward cocktails and on-the-rocks pours on a sunny day.
5. Mary Dowling Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey Toasted Double Oak Barrel
ABV: 53.5%
Average Price: $129
The Whiskey:
This is Rabbit Hole’s classic wheated bourbon recipe with a special finish. The whiskey is “Double Oaked” with an initial rest in Kelven barrels with a heavy char and light toast before being re-barreled into a very lightly charred barrel with a heavy toast. Once just right, the barrels are batched and bottled 100% as-is at cask strength.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a deep sense of mulled wine spices on the nose next to peach pits, warming winter spice cakes, rum raisin, and soft chocolate tobacco with a hint of espresso cream.
Palate: A touch of cherry and nutmeg lead on the taste with deep woody winter spices — clove, anise, cinnamon — before a touch of fresh pipe tobacco and cedar bark merge with smudging sage and a twinge of soft oakiness.
Finish: The smoothes toward vanilla beans, toffee, salted orange peels, and soft cherry with a hint of that tobacco adding a warming buzz on the very end.
Bottom Line:
This is a very nice sipper that works wonders in a cocktail (especially if you’re looking for natural spiciness).
4. Rabbit Hole Heigold Singel Barrel Cask Strength Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
ABV: 52.8%
Average Price: $173
The Whiskey:
This is a four-year-old single-barrel version of Rabbit Hole’s beloved Heigold expression. That’s the brand’s double malt (malted rye and malted barley) that has a high-rye bourbon mash bill (70/25/5 corn/malted rye/malted barley).
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose is lush with deep layers of maple syrup over pecan waffles with a good hit of salted butter (really good butter) next to dark chocolate chips, old boot leather, smudging sage that’s just smoldering, and a fleeting sense of old rickhouses on a crisp fall day.
Palate: The palate follows the nose’s path with caramelized pecans finished with floral honey and dusted with candied orange peels, ground pear chips, and very dark chocolate with a pinch of salt and apple blossom before the sharp and woody winter spice kicks in.
Finish: The end leans into the dryness of the winter spice mix before silky marzipan and maple syrup creamed with butter create a luscious finish that slowly fades from warm to comforting.
Bottom Line:
This is where we blast off into space with Rabbit Hole. Their single barrels tend to be fire. They’re deep, balanced, and offer a nice kick without feeling overwhelming. Overall, pour this over a big rock and sip it slowly. You will be rewarded with a great experience.
3. Rabbit Hole Dareringer Kentucky Straight Bourbon Finished in PX Sherry Cask
ABV: 46.5%
Average Price: $81
The Whiskey:
This contract-distilled wheated bourbon — 68% corn, 18% wheat, and 14% malted barley — is very reminiscent of wheated bourbons from the iconic Heaven Hill. The whiskey spends an undisclosed amount of years aging before it goes into only 15 Casknolia Pedro Ximenez sherry casks per batch (a truly small batch of bourbon). Those barrels are then blended and touched with that soft Kentucky limestone water before bottling.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Fruit shines through on the nose with fresh raspberries mingling with strawberry jam, Bing cherries, and dried plums and apricots with a hint of leather and winter spice baking that fruit up.
Palate: The palate really embraces those fruits with a tart and sour vibe to the cherries and red berries while the leather leans raw and the spices lean toward cinnamon and tobacco with a caramel mid-palate.
Finish: The sweetness fades quickly as the finish continues with berries and spice while the cherry attaches to the tobacco and soft cedar on the end.
Bottom Line:
This is the best overall sipper on the list. Buy this one if you want something reliable and very deep and rewarding as a sipper. This is also very approachable with a subtle demeanor that turns dark and warming at the end.
2. Rabbit Hole Mizunara Founder’s Collection Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey Finished in Japanese Oak
ABV: 57.1%
Average Price: $2,158
The Whiskey:
The latest addition to the Founder’s Collection is a very small batch of 15-year-old whiskey. The bourbon rested for 15 long years in Kentucky in new oak before being transferred to fresh Japanese Mizunara casks from the famed Ariake Snagyo cooperage in Shochu Island. Only 1,403 bottles were filled for this limited release.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose reveals the age in that the profile turned back toward its fruity yeast with bruised banana, tart apple, and soft pear leading to sour salted cherries, a touch of mint, and deep vanilla.
Palate: A deep sense of forest moss and cedar bark leads toward eggnog pudding, cinnamon bark, and honey cut with florals before a tart red berry arrives with a touch of tobacco leaf.
Finish: The end leans into the soft forest moss with a twinge of pipe tobacco dipped in cherry and vanilla before a fleeting sense of fresh rose petals flutters in the background at the very end.
Bottom Line:
This is a complex whiskey and an excellent example of the high-end of Rabbit Hole’s line. This is an educational whiskey — meaning it will expand your palate while giving you deep satisfaction. Pour this one neat and take it slowly, it’ll take you on a journey.
1. Rabbit Hole Heretofore Straight Bourbon Whiskey Finished in Apera Casks
ABV: 58.6%
Average Price: $50 (half bottle)
The Whiskey:
This special release from Rabbit Hole is their Distillery Only release. The whiskey is their classic wheated bourbon mash that’s been finished in an Apera cask (an Australian wine similar to sherry). The whiskey was only in a few barrels and bottled at cask strength for this very limited release.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: A rich sense of winter spice cakes brimming with real vanilla oils, allspice, clove, and rum raisin drives the nose toward hints of mint chocolate cream, Nutella, and candied citrus.
Palate: Salted caramel opens the taste toward soft black licorice, fatty roasting herbs, eggnog creaminess, and a touch of black peppercorn with a faint whisper of cedar kindling.
Finish: Dank wine cellars and cedar barks round out the finish with a deep sense of salted caramel tobacco just kissed with blood orange, holiday cakes, and mince meat pies next to a touch of star anise, mulled wine, and marzipan.
Bottom Line:
This is the deepest and most satisfying pour on the list. It’s heavy on winter nostalgia but goes beyond with a dark sense of old Kentucky bourbon. This is the pour that you save for a special occasion.
HIDDEN BONUS TRACK: Blackened x Rabbit Hole A Blend of Straight Bourbon Whiskeys Distilled in Tennessee & Kentucky Finished in Calvados Casks Cask Strength
ABV: 53.3%
Average Price: $160
The Whiskey:
This collaboration between Metallica’s Blackened and Rabbit Hole is masterful whiskey. The blend is a 13-year-old Tennessee high-rye bourbon batched with Rabbit Hole Heigold High-Rye Double Malt Bourbon (with malted rye and malted barley). Once batched, the whiskey was re-barreled into Calvados casks (an apple brandy) for a final rest before 100% as-is bottling.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a nice sense of chili pepper warmth on the nose with a hint of macadamia cookie nuttiness, honey Graham Crackers, light summer florals, and a whisper of darkly stewed apple.
Palate: Cinnamon-infused pear brandy sparks on the palate with a sense of clover honey, walnut loaf, and this thin line of smoked applewood with a good sense of barrel warmth.
Finish: The honey and walnut drive the finish toward a soft warmth that leaves the gentlest of numbness on the senses.
Bottom Line:
This was a great release from 2023. It’s still on the shelves! It’s also a great sipper to have on hand for when you’re spinning some Metallica and in need of a slow sipper with great nuance that’s a little funky and fresh.
