Heaven Hill President Max Shapira has a lot of positive things to say about his father, Ed. As one of the original founders of Heaven Hill Distillery, Ed taught Max about Bourbon, running a family-owned business, and how to mature into a person of character.

But one of things Max recalls his father saying most was this simple principle: “It takes patience and perseverance to produce something of great quality.”

That standard has guided Heaven Hill Distillery since its founding in 1935. That year, we distilled our first batches of Bourbon, put them into barrels, and set them to age in our rickhouses. Then…we waited. And waited.

It wasn’t until four years later, in 1939, that we released Old Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond. That long period of maturing wasn’t easy for a new company; it required significant investment and a fair amount of risk. But that patience and perseverance did pay off: quickly following its release, the Old Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond label became the number one selling Bourbon in the state of Kentucky.

History Repeats Itself
Eighty years later, we are revitalizing the Heaven Hill brand with our latest release. The name is simple — Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond — because it best reflects who we are, where we’ve come from, and that values that brought us here.

Using the Heaven Hill name on the bottle means a lot to our family, our team, and our community. For the past few decades, we’ve become known for producing best-selling, award-winning American Whiskeys like Elijah Craig, Evan Williams, Larceny Bourbon, and Rittenhouse Rye.

With Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond, we are proudly displaying the name of our distillery, showcasing our heritage and embracing our role as stewards of the American Whiskey movement today.

Everything about the bottle and the liquid inside represents where we’ve come from and where we’re going next. The Bourbon itself is extra-aged at 7 years old, and the Bottled-in-Bond designation reflects our commitment to quality from the very beginning.

Bottled-in-Bond whiskeys must meet four specific requirements:

• Distilled by one distillery during one distillation season (Jan–Jun or Jul–Dec)
• Aged at least four years in a federally bonded warehouse under U.S. government supervision
• Bottled at 100 proof (50% alcohol by volume), adding nothing but pure water
• The label must bear the name and number of the Distilled Spirits Plant (D.S.P.) where it was produced, and, if different, the D.S.P number of the bottling facility

These requirements come to life in Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond. Only being able to select whiskey from a single distillation season limits the barrels that can be used for such a Bourbon; we needed to wait until just the right barrels are at their peak. Being independent and family-owned, while having more than 1.6 million barrels of aging whiskey in our rickhouses, allows us to take our time, identifying just the right barrels and selecting for the exact flavors we’re looking for.

Inspired by Our Heritage
The bottle and label design echo our history and signify the exceptional quality and taste of the whiskey inside. “This Bourbon is 7 Years Old” evokes our age statements of the past, while the artwork is a hand-sketched illustration that shows how our Bardstown distillery looked in 1935. “Family Owned Since 1935” is a very special and unique claim in the Bourbon industry, and we are proud that we have maintained our independence since the very beginning.

The second label features the gold emblem reserved for releases that bear the name of Heaven Hill. Previously, it was featured on our Heaven Hill 27-Year-Old Barrel Proof Bourbon release.

On the back, the line “The Best of the Great Kentucky Bourbons™” has been on so many of our bottles throughout our history.

Relaunching the Heaven Hill brand takes us back to the earliest DNA of our company and our Bourbons, celebrating a multi-generational success story that has been etched into the history of American Whiskey.

We invite you to learn more about this very special release at the link below.