‘Homecoming for Heaven Hill’: Distillery returns to Bardstown, will double capacity
Heaven Hill is celebrating a major milestone that heralds a return to Bardstown: the opening of a new hometown distillery.
Heaven Hill Springs Distillery will fill its first barrel (ceremonially, of course) on Monday, April 7.
The occasion comes as Heaven Hill, the largest privately held distillery in the world, owned by the Shapira family, celebrates 90 years in business. Max Shapira is executive chairman of Heaven Hill, with Kate Shapira Latts and Allan Latts co-presidents since 2022.
It also brings whiskey production back to Bardstown, which was the scene of a devastating fire in 1996 that destroyed not only the Heaven Hill distillery but also seven rickhouses and almost 100,000 barrels of whiskey.
“This is a homecoming for Heaven Hill,” Conor O’Driscoll, Heaven Hill master distiller, said in an interview. “We’ve been gone for 30 years, almost. We’re coming back to our roots, back to our homeplace with a brand new, state-of-the-art world-class distillery.”
The new distillery off U.S. 245 in Bardstown and will be open to visitors beginning later this year through tours that begin at the nearby Heaven Hill Bourbon Experience.
What makes Heaven Hill Springs special
Construction started in 2022 on the new distillery, which was originally supposed to cost $135 million but ended up being more than $200 million. The whiskey produced in the new distillery will be moved by tanker trucks to the cistern room to fill barrels that will be distributed to more than 70 warehouses on eight campuses, currently aging more than 2.1 million barrels.
The new distillery is designed to be efficient from the point of energy use and water use, O’Driscoll said. It has its own water pre-treatment plant that converts waste into energy to supplement the operation and prepare “spent grains” (the leftovers after whiskey is made) into distillers’ dried grains that will be sold for animal feed.
Conservation efforts, led by Rachel Nally, award-winning director of environment and sustainability at Heaven Hill, include the planting of 600 native hardwood trees on site last fall.
When all three phases of the new distillery are completed, Springs will be able to match the output of the older, more industrial Bernheim Distillery in Louisville, which remains in operation. And it will allow Heaven Hill to double its whiskey-producing capacity.
Purchased by Heaven Hill in 1999, the Bernheim Distillery in Louisville “is still central to our plans. It’s made fantastic, award-winning whiskey for us for 25 years, and we’re going to continue that,” O’Driscoll said.
“Springs is additional capacity as our portfolio continues to grow. Bernheim can make 450,000 barrels a year. Phase One of Springs can make 150,000; Phase Two can make 150,000; Phase Three can make 150,000,” he said.
When will all three phases of the expansion be completed?
“The faster people drink the whiskey we’ve already made,” he said.
Future of Heaven Hill
If that sounds like Heaven Hill isn’t too concerned about a whiskey glut — or other industry concerns like declining liquor sales — you’re right.
“One of the reasons we spent $200 million on a new facility was to future-proof our business,” O’Driscoll said.
While the company doesn’t have as big a footprint in the overseas markets as other legacy distillers, the profile is rising: Elijah Craig was the whiskey sponsor of the Ryder Cup in Rome last year and will be again this year in New York.
And it has announced an official sponsorship of the 2025 PGA Championship in May. To reinforce the association, there are limited edition releases, including barrel picks with top golf pros.
“This is one of the great things about being an independently owned and operated company,” O’Driscoll said. “We are very, very bullish on the future of bourbon and American whiskey, our own portfolio for sure. We see huge opportunities not just in the U.S. but overseas as well. ... We’ve been in business 90 years by being patient, having perseverance and reacting smartly to changes in the market, and we have no plans to change that.”
“Both distilleries will continue to make world-class high quality whiskeys,” he said.
Both distilleries will make the same six mashbills, which become such popular brands as Evan Williams, Elijah Craig, Heaven Hill, Henry McKenna, Bernheim Original, Larceny, Rittenhouse Rye, Old Fitzgerald, the Parker’s Heritage Collection and Mellow Corn.
New releases, old favorites expanding
That likely will mean lots of line extensions, such as the 7-Year-Old Bottled in Bond Old Fitzgerald (to be released this summer) that will be reasonably priced (read: something south of $100) and nationally available right off the bat, O’Driscoll said. More new editions of the Heaven Hill Grain to Glass series may be coming, too.
Does he see prices coming down on the shelves any time soon?
“The Heaven Hill portfolio is aged longer, higher proof and is lower priced than a lot of the competitive set,” he said. “The marketing department will probably kill me for saying this, but there’s no need to pay more than $100 for a bottle of whiskey.
“If you wanna, go chase the ‘unicorns,’ but when you’re climbing that rack at the liquor store to get to the top shelf, look at all that cool stuff you’re climbing over. We’ve literally got stuff $20 to as much as you want to spend. ... We have something for everybody.”
This story was originally published April 7, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
