Found North Hell Diver - First Impressions

Found North Hell Diver
High Altitude Collection #2 - 119 proof
PX Sherry, cognac and new American oak

85% Corn | 14% Rye | 1% Malted Barley
Non-Chill Filtered - No Additives - Natural Color

Composition = 15, 22 and 23 year old corn 18 and 19 year old rye

Nose - Wow, lots to unpack here - bright red fruits, maple syrup, dried fruit from the cask finishing shows up. It has a wonderful combination of sweet and spicy notes. It dances towards a dessert like nose. Two tiny drops of water brought out the red fruit even more, cherries and berries. It definitely became a much sweeter nose.

Palate - extremely well balanced, the cognac and PX cask finishing show up at different points, with the cognac influence on the front palate and the PX on the mid palate. To me, this is dried fruits and spice with a hit of tannic oak. With water, it tamps down the spice and of course some of that heat from the proof. I think the cognac influence is more noticeable with water added.

The finish is long, the proof lingers a little bit but not in an unpleasant manner. Most likely a contender for a top whiskey of the year for me. I’ll be coming back to this one for a more in depth review.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C6kbz4oM6lb/?igsh=cDFxbmNzN3hnN3Ex

Cheers!