Empyrean is a word that means the highest heaven. Dark Arts Whiskey House envisions the highest heaven as a cask strength Indiana Bourbon aged seven and a half years and finished in red and white port casks. The mashbill is decidedly high rye, at 60% corn, 36% rye, and 4% barley. It is bottled at 111.36 proof. This is the third Dark Arts bottle I have tried. I don’t know how much this bottle is as it was a gift from my brother and sister, but generally the prices I am seeing are around $105 a bottle.

The color on this is a very solid amber with just a tinge of mahogany. On the swirl is a thin film with slowly developing thick legs. On the palate, lots of candied dark fruit notes, some caramelized sugar, baked apple pie, and rich oak. On the finish, there is a little more alcohol burn that I would like, but the fruit flavors fade into white pepper, a hint of clove, a hint of mint, and oak. After a little air exposure in my copita, the whiskey becomes much more smooth and the alcohol burn on the finish lessens. The flavors on this are multilayered in a great way.

I have always been a fan of port finished scotch, and I prefer it to sherry finished. I was not a huge fan of the sherry finished Dark Arts bourbon. The port finished Dark Arts bourbon is a whole different story for me. I am also generally provide low rye bourbon, but this high rye bourbons spiciness is a great foil to the sweet fruity notes, and the typical herbaceous notes I get from high rye bourbon very subtle, and that is a good thing to me. This is a very good whiskey and I am delighted to have gotten it for my birthday.