In November, iconic singer/songwriter Bob Dylan stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon for a rare television appearance. The two sipped on Bob Dylan’s “Heaven’s Door” whiskey, as they watched a private performance of NYC’s infamous Big Apple Circus.
Watch Bob Dylan’s brief appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon below:
Bob Dylan on ‘The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon’
[Video: The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon]
In April 2018, Dylan announced a new business endeavor, a whiskey company dubbed Heaven’s Door. The company is a partnership with Marc Bushala, a lifelong fan and liquor entrepreneur. Dylan’s Heaven’s Door collection includes a straight rye, a straight bourbon, and a “double-barreled” whiskey, retailing for $50 to $80 a bottle.
The business partnership blossomed after a trademark for the term “bootleg whiskey” was filed under Dylan’s name in 2015. Bushala’s own brand of bourbon, Angel’s Envy, had just sold for $150M, and he reportedly began “obsessing over this concept of what a Dylan whiskey could be.” Busala made contact with and was vetted by Dylan’s reps, and after a reaching a compromise over the name (“bootleg whiskey” was an appropriate nod to the oft-bootlegged artist, though not quite right for the top-shelf spirits market), Dylan agreed to Bushala’s business proposal.
The regular bottle labels are each inspired by Dylan’s ironwork sculptures. In order to maintain Dylan’s original name for the whiskey, the company will issue an annual Bootleg Series in limited editions, in ceramic bottles decorated with his oil and watercolor paintings. The first, a 25-year-old whiskey, will be released this year and cost about $300.
For more information on ticketing and Dylan’s upcoming shows, head to his website here.
[Originally published 11/23/2018]