Heaven Hill 27 Year
There are those marks in time that seemingly every true bourbon nerd knows. Like the year of the Bottled-in-Bond Act. Or the year Stitzel-Weller closed. Or the year Sazerac 18 exhausted its “vatted” rye stock. The year of the Heaven Hill fire is one of those.
In 1996, Heaven Hill experienced a devastating fire, destroying many warehouses, the still house, and over 90,000 barrels of aging whiskey. Certainly the loss of aging stock was tragic, but the loss of the still house changed Heaven Hill forever.
After the fire, with no place to distill, the bourbon industry stepped up to Heaven Hill’s rescue. Distillers like Brown-Foreman and Jim Beam started contract distilling for Heaven Hill (to Heaven Hill’s specifications). Then in 1999, instead of rebuilding the distillery, Heaven Hill purchased and began operating the Bernheim distillery, which it operates today.
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Scott is a co-founder of Flight Club and a frequent writer and reviewer on the Club’s blog.
