Bob Dylan releasing line of Heaven's Door whiskeys: 'This is great whiskey'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The first three varieties in Dylan's line of Heaven's Door Spirits will debut in select cities mid-May. (Reuters/Heaven's Door Spirits)
Bob Dylan announced on Saturday a new line of his own signature Heaven’s Door Spirits, to be produced in partnership with liquor entrepreneur Marc Bushala.
The spirits, all whiskeys, will reportedly be available in mid-May in select cities, per a press release.
“You don’t always find inspiration,” said the 76-year-old Nobel laureate in a statement obtained by The Guardian. “Sometimes, it finds you. We wanted to create a collection of American whiskeys that would each tell a story.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}POPE FRANCIS PRAISES 'VERY GOOD BOURBON' GIVEN TO HIM BY PRIEST
Dylan’s Heaven’s Door Spirits — named after his 1973 single “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door" — so far consists of three varieties of whiskey all created by different distillers in different parts of the country: a Tennessee Bourbon, described as a straight bourbon made from 30 percent “small grains”; a Double Barrel Whiskey, a blend made using a “double barrel finishing process”; and a Straight Rye Whiskey, aged in bottles that were “air-dried” in a mountainous region of Vosges, France.
Each variety will also come in bottles inspired by designs created at the Los Angeles foundry where Dylan practices his ironwork.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Bottles of Heaven's Door Spirits will be decorated with imagery inspired by Dylan's own ironwork. (Heaven's Door Spirits)
A second line of whiskeys called The Bootleg Series ‒ which shares the name with a collection of decades-old Bob Dylan recordings first released in the '90s ‒ will debut next year, consisting of "rare whiskey stocks and special blends."
“I’ve been traveling for decades, and I’ve been able to try some of the best spirits that the world of whiskey has to offer,” Dylan further told The New York Times. “This is great whiskey.”
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Dylan and Bushala first partnered after the latter noticing the songwriter, or his people, had filed a trademark application for “bootleg whiskey” in Dylan’s name. Bushala got in touch with Dylan and persuaded him to rethink the name of the spirit ‒ “it was a little bit daunting,” Bushala told the Times ‒ before ultimately raising $35 million from investors to start the company.
Bushala also insists that Dylan is a full partner, and did not simply license his name for the project. He further stated that Dylan himself is not interested in “touting” the new brand, which is “authentic for Dylan and authentic for the brand.”