[#WhiskyphFocus] Heaven Hill.

@heavenhilldistillery (HH) is one of the largest whiskey houses in the United States, home to many different brands and styles of #AmericanWhiskey.

They've got the 2nd largest bourbon inventory in the US, stored in 55 rickhouses where the barrels are aged. Pretty amazing for a company that has remained independent and family-owned.

HH traces its roots to the end of the prohibition in Bardstown Kentucky in 1935. The Shapira family invested in building a distillery with a few whisky-making partners. Before the distillery could start making money, the whisky-makers asked to be bought out of the business. The Shapira family were left with a distillery that they had no idea how to operate. Luckily Joe and Harry Beam (of Jim Beam) were there to help. Later on Earl Beam would come in (from Jim Beam) to be the HH master distiller.

Bourbon Falls would be HH's first successful brand, until the launch of #EvanWilliams in 1957. They launch #ElijahCraig 12yo in 1986, then acquire #HenryMcKenna Bourbon in 1989, with even more brands coming in the 90s.

In 1996, a fire ravaged the original HH distillery in Bardstown, along with 7 rickhouses and over 92,000 barrels of bourbon, said to be 2% of the world's bourbon at the time. Miraculously, the HH proprietary yeast survived the fire. And their bottling facility was up and running the next day.

HH survived with the help of bourbon distilleries #JimBeam and #BrownForman which allowed HH to use their facilities for distilling until HH acquired #Bernheim distillery in Louisville in 1999.

Now they make all sorts of american whiskey from the unaged #cornwhiskey Georgia Moon; Bernheim #wheatWhiskey; Rye whiskeys like #PikesvilleRye, and bourbons like #LarcenyBourbon.

Since they make everything from young no age statement whiskeys to rarer double-digit aged bourbons, their brands are a great place to start an AW journey. Cheers!🥃

Since it's almost #BatmanDay, sharing my drams of #MellowCorn and #RittenhouseRye with one of my favorite Batman stories, Gotham Central from Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka and Michael Lark!

Image Courtesy of @WhiskyPH

@WhiskyPH

At its core, whisky appreciation is an exercise in memory. Notes of a whisky enthusiast in the Philippines. 🥃🇵🇭