We Tasted And Ranked Rabbit Hole’s Core Whiskey Lineup

It’s time to go down a rabbit hole.

Located in downtown Louisville, Rabbit Hole Distillery, which opened in 2018, is finally hitting its groove. It owes its success to the contracted distillate it started with, key partnerships, and the tireless work of its Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame founder, Kaveh Zamanian.

With nearly 3,000 whiskey distilleries in America, up from roughly 150 just 15 years ago, it’s more important than ever to have an edge to help your brand stand out from the pack. Kaveh’s unique background motivated him to highlight other inspiring, seldom-heard stories in the whiskey industry.

Kaveh Zamanian is an Iranian immigrant who earned his Ph.D. here in America before falling in love with his wife, a native Kentuckian who introduced him to the bourbon industry. There, he fell in love yet again—this time with the spirit’s tradition and production process. In his words, “Bourbon is what we like to call 51% corn, 49% possibility.”

Speaking to the “possibility” component, we have to talk about one of the key partnerships Kaveh most recently forged. Last year at the Sundance Film Festival, a chance meeting with Insecure breakout star Jay Ellis birthed an intriguing question: what if they could align their respective appreciation for creative spirits in a way that united the world of film and whiskey? Thus, the Creative Spirits Challenge was born.

“One of the barriers for a lot of people is (a lack of) equipment,” Ellis intimated in an exclusive interview with UPROXX, “so Kaveh and his team put together this idea of providing cameras to emerging filmmakers so that everyone can tell us their story.” For aspiring creatives, it’s an opportunity that could change their lives in the same way that Kaveh’s daring has changed the face of the whiskey industry.

As part of the partnership, Ellis also collaborated with Kaveh and the Rabbit Hole team to create a limited-edition whiskey that will be available in stores this spring. The full details of the release have not yet been announced, but it will feature custom artwork, and a portion of the proceeds from the bottle will go towards further supporting young filmmakers looking to develop their first project. The challenge is on.

While we await our first taste of that new release here at UPROXX, we thought it would be a perfect time to put Rabbit Hole’s core lineup to our challenge.

I tasted through Rabbit Hole’s “core four” expressions and ranked them in order of deliciousness. Let’s dive in and find out which Rabbit Hole whiskey you should get your hands on ahead of the release of their liquid collaboration with Jay Ellis!

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4. Rabbit Hole Cavehill Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

ABV: 47.5%
Average Price: $55

The Whiskey:

Cavehill from Rabbit Hole is technically a four-grain bourbon made from a mash bill of 70% corn, 10% malted wheat, 10% malted barley, and 10% honey malted barley. The brand’s entry-level offering uses liquid matured for at least 3 years, produced in small batches of no more than 15 barrels.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: The nosing notes are grain forward, with floral notes balancing out the aromas of corn husk, black pepper, and white sugar. It has a generally light and slightly youthful nose that beckons an initial sip courtesy of that sweet approachability.

Palate: That grain-forward nose perfectly sets the stage for the sipping experience with this whiskey, as notes of corn husk, sweet butterscotch, green apples, and peaches form the base of the flavor profile on this one. The mouthfeel is a tad bit restrained, but it’s a very balanced, borderline refreshing sip.

Finish: The finish on Cavehill is short-to-medium, which helps support its generally refreshing impression.

Bottom Line:

This is a great introduction to the Rabbit Hole portfolio. It’s a crowd-pleaser that casts enough intrigue to raise the eyebrows of enthusiasts, while newcomers to the world of whiskey will instantly fall in love with its sweet, approachable flavor profile.

3. Rabbit Hole Heigold Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

ABV: 47.5%
Average Price: $45

The Whiskey:

Rabbit Hole Heigold treads a slightly different path than Cavehill thanks to its mash bill of 70% corn, 25% rye, and 5% malted barley. That high rye grain recipe gives it an added depth and some extra spice notes for an end result that is similarly aged at least 3 years and made in batches of 15 barrels or less.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: This bourbon opens with nosing notes of butterscotch, stewed apples, and maple syrup. Star anise comes sweeping in on a second pass of the glass, with earthy cinnamon bark notes further fleshing out the aroma base.

Palate: Once on the palate, the flavors of smoked honey, mellow rye spice, and star anise grace the tip of the tongue and slowly unfold towards the middle of the palate. Once at mid-palate, more notes of red apples and a nice dash of black pepper round things out. The mouthfeel on this one is denser than Cavehill, which helps it support those additional baking spice notes.

Finish: This one has a medium-to-long finish where the apple notes play an important role along with that sweet honey flavor, which combines with a touch of cornbread, sage smudge, and white pepper.

Bottom Line:

While Cavehill is Rabbit Hole’s crowd-pleaser, Heigold is a slightly more serious expression with multiple layers of flavor and some intriguing spice notes that will make you want to savor each sip. If taking your time with a whiskey and teasing out all of the flavors is your type of experience, then Heigold is the bottle for you.

2. Rabbit Hole Boxergrail Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey

ABV: 47.5%
Average Price: $55

The Whiskey:

While whiskey fans are certainly familiar with the 95/5 rye recipe made famous by Indiana’s MGP (95% rye, 5% malted barley), Rabbit Hole Boxergrail Rye features a take on the grain recipe produced in Kentucky. Like its two predecessors, this whiskey is made in small batches using distillate that is aged for at least 3 years.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: Green apples, spearmint, and black tea stand out immediately on the nose of this whiskey. Despite clocking in at the same ABV as Cavehill and Heigold, Boxergrail comes across as a bit higher-proofed, which is likely due to its more robust black peppercorn notes.

Palate: On the palate, this whiskey is at once familiar (thanks to its 95/5 grain recipe) but also offers a bit more edge than its Indiana counterparts at this age. The mouthfeel is robust to start, with the flavors of green candy apples, allspice, and black pepper doing the heavy lifting before it demures at midpalate.

Finish: Despite losing steam at midpalate, this whiskey perks up texturally on the medium-length finish where freshly cracked black pepper notes join green apples, barrel char, lavender honey, and thyme.

Bottom Line:

While the drinking experience with Rabbit Hole’s Boxergrail Rye is roughly on par with that of Heigold, it offers additional insight into the differences between Indiana’s and Kentucky’s takes on the 95/5 rye recipe. With a slightly sterner backbone thanks to a more assertive infusion of black pepper spice, this is a precocious young rye that serves well as either a neat sipper or a cocktail base.

1. Rabbit Hole Dareringer Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey Finished In PX Sherry Casks

ABV: 46.5%
Average Price: $80

The Whiskey:

For the final expression in the Rabbit Hole core four, we have Derringer, which utilizes its own unique mash bill of 68% corn, 18% wheat, and 14% malted barley. That whiskey is then finished in Pedro Ximenez Sherry Casks from Spain’s Casknolia Cooperage. Finally, the whiskey is bottled without chill-filtration to preserve all of the flavors that the secondary maturation cask imparts.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: Fruit cake notes come leaping out of the glass with this whiskey as the aroma of mulled wine melds with stewed red berries, cinnamon bark, dark chocolate, and shelled walnuts.

Palate: On the palate, Dareringer springs to life as all of its nosing notes dance on the palate in a slightly riper form. The stewed red berries come across more so as red berry preserves, while the walnuts lose their shell, the cinnamon has become dust, and the dark chocolate gets slightly sweeter and tastes more like milk chocolate.

Finish: This whiskey is the sweetest overall, underlined by its sweet short-to-medium-length finish, which is loaded with red raisins, a faint amaretto note, moderate oak tones, and freshly cracked black pepper.

Bottom Line:

Dareringer, the priciest of Rabbit Hole’s core four, is worth every penny as it delivers a delightful sweetness coupled with assertive baking spice notes that all enhance, rather than distract from, the base whiskey. While this is the most challenging whiskey of the bunch on the palate, offering an array of well-integrated flavors, it’s also the most rewarding for the very same reason.

Final Thoughts

Despite its youth, Rabbit Hole is delivering some delicious whiskeys throughout its core lineup. By developing an appreciation for younger whiskey, discerning drinkers will find a whole new world opening in front of their eyes. While Cavehill was a tad bland, the Heigold expression kicks things up several notches before the surprisingly multifaceted rye and the magnificent Dareringer offering steal the show.

Simply put, if you aren’t already enjoying younger American whiskeys, then Rabbit Hole is an ideal jumping-off point.

To enter the Creative Spirits Challenge, aspiring filmmakers simply need to submit a video sharing their story and make a case for why they deserve to win. The grand prize winner will receive a professional-grade Canon camera and a one-on-one mentoring session with Jay Ellis, an invaluable opportunity to learn from an award-winning actor with over 20 years of experience in Hollywood. Three runners-up will also receive professional-grade Canon cameras to assist in bringing their creative visions to life.

Interested participants must be 21+ and the brand is accepting submissions until 3/31/2025.