BARDSTOWN, Ky. – Heaven Hill Distillery, the world’s second-largest holder of aging Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, had a pretty big week. They filled their nine millionth Bourbon barrel – No Big Deal. It actually is, here’s why.
For perspective, there are 53 gallons in your typical Bourbon barrel. 9M barrels are the equivalent of 477,000,000 million gallons of Kentucky goodness. An Olympic sized pool holds 660,430 gallons. For all you math savants out there, that’s 722.256 Olympic pools. Yet more perspective, an Olympic pool is 50 meters long, which means 36,112.8356 meters in length, or 22 miles for us Americanas.
Why is this significant? Other than being a “heavenly” vision of copious amounts of juice, Heaven Hill is the only local, independent, family-owned and operated company to reach this historic benchmark. HH’s first 1,000,000th barrel being filled on July 21, 1961 at the Old Heaven Hill Springs Distillery in Bardstown. Distillery operations would move to the current Bernheim Distillery in 1999 following the horrific fire of 1996 at HH’s Bardstown facility that devoured $30,000,000+ in precious whiskey stock.
“In a year defined by teamwork and perseverance, today we celebrate another historic Heaven Hill milestone as we fill the nine millionth barrel of Bourbon,” said Max L. Shapira, President, Heaven Hill. “This nine millionth barrel, a rare achievement in the industry, is a testament to Heaven Hill’s commitment to quality and consistency since 1935.”
The milestone wraps up a banner year of Heaven Hill’s continued investment in the future of American Whiskey. Now aging more than 1.8 million barrels across 63 warehouses, Heaven Hill’s Bernheim distillery produces 1,300 barrels per day as the largest single-site Bourbon distillery in American Whiskey. The new Bourbon Heritage Center tasting rooms and retail store were completed and a grand opening of the entire new center is on track for early summer 2021. The launch of Larceny Barrel Proof, Elijah Straight Rye Whiskey, Elijah Craig Toasted Barrel and Parker’s Heritage Collection 10-Year-Old Heavy Char showcased the depth of premium innovation across diverse portfolio of award-winning mashbills.
The nine millionth barrel will be put up to age in Rickhouse Y, where it will be displayed amongst Heaven Hill’s other milestone barrels.
