History, Heat and High-Proof Whiskeys Mark Heaven Hill's Grain to Glass Launch

Most whiskey product launches begin and end with an emailed press release. Coming out parties for more significant bottles start with a press conference, move to pours of the new liquid and end, maybe, with a bit of swag and a sample bottle.

Such affairs were apparently too subdued for Heaven Hill Distilleries’ June launch of its three new Grain to Glass whiskeys. In word and deed, this was a big deal for the Shapira family who’s owned the distillery for nearly nine decades. In mid-June, about two dozen media members were invited to Bardstown for the atypically but happily lengthy affair that included meals, cocktails, a distillery tour and, of course, tastes of the new line. 

As impressive as the actual event was the unusually hot June weather. Each step into the air-conditioned tour bus was a coveted moment, a cozy shelter from the day’s brittle sunshine. When we stepped outside to begin a tour of the new Heaven Hill Springs Distillery (HHSD), even the shaded walk through the largely wall-less building barely tempered the ambient heat.

Predictably, the safety mandates of long pants and closed-toe shoes made the tour a little warmer, but I didn’t think the hard hat issued would retain heat like a turtle’s shell. In short order I gained a new appreciation for the workers on site, people who wear those all day while toiling below that pitiless sun.

Distillery manager Adam Ganoe, who led the tour, wove bourbon factory facts into the conversation with the ease of someone whose nightly blanket might well be the building’s blueprints. When production begins this December, it will mark phase one of the distillery’s three-phase construction and expansion plan. In 2025, HHSD will produce 10 million proof gallons to fill 150,000 barrels.

Distilling byproducts—water and spent grain—will be pumped to an anaerobic digester, which will convert liquids back to usable water for use in Bardstown. The wet grain will be dried via a centrifuge and massive tumble dryers, then sold as high-quality feed to farmers.

“The big goal is to make better whiskey more consistently. And we’ll be able to do that with only 38 employees.”

Subsequent phases will see additional grain cookers and fermenters come online in step with the installation of two more stills. At the completion of phase three, three 70-foot-tall, 6-foot-wide stills will crank out 30 million proof gallons a year to fill 450,000 barrels. And, hopefully, the Shapira family will have written the last of the myriad checks for this $200 million venture.

“This distillery is very, very automated,” Ganoe stressed. The result will be production efficiencies improved over those in practice at HH’s Bernheim Distillery in Louisville—which, in legacy distillery years, is still relatively young at 31. Middle-aged or not, it currently fills a stout 450,000 barrels annually on its own. Different from Bernheim, HHSD will offer tours, a full bar and scenic, walkable forested grounds. “The big goal is to make better whiskey more consistently. And we’ll be able to do that with only 38 employees.”

The tour concluded with a bus ride to the Heaven Hill Bourbon Experience at its Bardstown campus, where we joined the leadership trio of the Shapira family—Max Shapira, executive chairman, and co-presidents Kate and Allan Latts—and others representing companies integral to the Grain to Glass project.

“We see this as the most transparent offering in the history of our company. Everything you need to know about these whiskeys is right on the label.”

After a quick download of cocktails and nibbles, the group reboarded the bus to the Heaven Hill Barrel Preserve about 15 minutes away, where we’d taste two of the Grain to Glass whiskies from barrels. Amid the relative first-floor cool of a rickhouse holding approximately 56,000 aging barrels, Max Shapira described Grain to Glass’s genesis, a decade-long effort to make American whiskey from a one-of-a-kind corn—something notably different from the industry standard No. 2 yellow dent corn.

“We needed partners in this venture, someone to create that grain for us, then someone to plant and harvest that grain,” Shapira said. Whiskey drinkers, he added, want to know what's in the spirits they drink, and the company wanted to tell the fullest story. “We see this as the most transparent offering in the history of our company. Everything you need to know about these whiskies is on the label.”

Bernard Peterson, a partner in one of Heaven Hill’s longtime grain suppliers, Peterson Farms, pointed the Shapiras to Beck’s Hybrids, a specialty seed company in Atlanta, Indiana. The nation’s third largest seed company, Beck’s created a hybrid corn with high starch content (better for producing alcohol) that would grow optimally in Kentucky soil.

In the spring of 2017, Beck’s delivered hybrid No. 6158, which Peterson planted on two 50-acre plots, one of which lies across the street from Heaven Hill’s Bourbon Heritage Center. The corn was harvested and distilled later that year using the new mashbills: traditional bourbon (52 percent corn, 35 percent rye and 13 percent malted barley),107 proof, wheated bourbon (52 percent corn, 35 percent wheat and 13 percent malted barley), 121 proof, and rye whiskey (63 percent rye, 24 percent corn and 13 percent malted barley) 123 proof (cask strength). All distillates were entered into the barrel at 107 proof, well below the company’s standard 125 proof.

“For a long time, the distilling industry has talked about creating new whiskey with a different cultivar, but now it’s happened,” Peterson said. As master distiller Conor O’Driscoll thieved and passed around samples of the wheated Grain to Glass bourbon from a barrel, Peterson added. “We’re glad, well, proud is a better word, to be a part of it.”

O’Driscoll led the group in a toast and then talked about the liquids.

“These are clearly Heaven Hill whiskeys—though all are made from unique mashbills, not just a twist on HH reg,” company parlance for Heaven Hill regular, the lone mashbill used for all its bourbon labels. “They’ve been aged a minimum of six years and in oak barrels with a number three char. You’re getting to taste those differences today.” 

And different they are: rich, full-bodied and vibrant whiskeys whose character exceeds their age.

A few sips, a couple of toasts and a little sweat later, the group reboarded the air-conditioned bus for a trip to another rickhouse, this time for dinner. If you’ve been to Heaven Hill’s Bourbon Heritage Center, this one is located directly across Gilkey Run Road and is recognizable for its striking glass windowed corner. Into the more commonly dark confines of a whiskey aging building streams sunlight for single barrel picks and dinners, such as the spread laid out that evening.

Each of three courses was, appropriately, paired with a Grain to Glass whiskies, and all three bottles—international market ready at 700mls each—were on display. Each label features details of the unique corn hybrid (which will change with each year’s release) created by Beck’s Hybrids, its unique mashbill and release date. A blueprint of the Bernheim Distillery is also featured alongside illustrations depicting the importance of farming tradition and innovation. 

“We take pride in the traditions of not just Heaven Hill and our family who founded it, we’re also proud to be so closely associated with the companies who made this happen,” Shapira said. “Ten years ago, this was but a figment of our imagination, and our partners helped our imagination become actual whiskey. For somebody like me who’s been in this business for a very long time, this is really exciting.”

Clearly too exciting for a mere emailed press release.