Heaven Hill Select Stock 20th Anniversary Fire Edition Releases Monday

It was about 20 years ago to the day when a huge multi-alarm fire rocked the Heaven Hill distillery in Kentucky. With flames reaching as high as 350 feet, the blaze, which had started in a single warehouse, became a major concern as it spread to multiple other warehouses, the original distillery and several other buildings. Over 90,000 barrels of bourbon were lost as well.

We will have more on the historical side of this event in the next week or so, but for now we wanted to bring your attention to the release this Monday of Heaven Hill Select Stock 20^th Anniversary Fire Edition. This is a special edition bottling, of which we should have a review for you next week, that will be released on November 7 at the distillery’s Bourbon Heritage Center in Bardstown as well as at a few Kentucky retailers.

Heaven Hill Select Stock 20^th Anniversary Fire Edition, according to the distillery, was aged in Warehouse V for 20 years, which is just adjacent to the site of the fire. It has been bottled at 96 proof and will retail for around $200. Since this is a special offering, I imagine it will be one which quickly finds its way at higher price points to the secondary markets as well.

“As we move forward into the next decades of our company, we’re reminded of the over 80 years of perseverance that marks Heaven Hill’s heritage,” said Heaven Hill’s president Max L. Shapira in a prepared statement. “We remain just as committed to our employees and the spirits industry as we were through the days after November 7, 1996.”

It should be noted, by the way, that 20 years later Heaven Hill is doing quite well for itself. It recently filled its 7.5 millionth whiskey barrel, is undergoing an $80 million expansion, and is run today by the second and third generations of the Shapira family, which founded the company in 1935.