Heaven Hill Distillery has announced the latest release in its Heritage Collection: an 18 year-old Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey.
Released each Spring, the Heritage Collection focuses on the distillery’s traditional mash bills and oldest inventory. Previous national releases have included a 17 year-old Kentucky bourbon (2022) and a 20 year-old corn whiskey (2023).
According to Heaven Hill, the 2024 bottling comes from 133 barrels laid down in December 2005. The whiskey was distilled from a mashbill of 78 percent corn, 12 percent malted barley, and 10 percent rye. It’s the same recipe used in other Heaven Hill bourbons, including the Evan Williams, Henry McKenna, and Elijah Craig lines.
All barrels in the release were aged on the third floor of Rickhouse 1I.
“We now have over 2 million barrels aging,” master distiller Conor O’Driscoll told VinePair in an exclusive interview. “Rickhouse 1I is 12 stories, it’s almost 100 years old, it’s a large brick and concrete building. It’s got 80,000 barrels aging, and it’s particularly good at aging older whiskeys. When you taste this 18-year-old, it’s remarkably soft and subtle and gentle, and there is no overpowering wood.”
O’Driscoll further emphasized the potential risks and temptations in releasing ultra-aged American whiskey. For him and his team, a main challenge in curating Heritage Collection releases is finding well-aged stock at the peak of flavor — without going too far over.
“Our guiding North Star is that the whiskey has to taste good. It doesn’t matter if it’s 22 and a half
