Heaven Hill Heritage Collection 2024 – 18y.o. Bourbon

Today the modern iteration of the company, Heaven Hill Brands, has become a diversified supplier of whiskeys, liqueurs, vodkas, rums and other spirits. They own 57 rickhouses in Central KY and distribute over 48 brands including 17 bourbon labels such as Henry McKenna, Elijah Craig, Evan William, Larceny, Old Fitzgerald, and Rittenhouse rye to name a few. The distillery also has the largest number of Bottled in Bond whiskies on the market and is the only heritage distiller that features every major category of American whiskey in their 5 distinct mashbills producing traditional bourbon, wheated bourbon, rye whiskey, corn whiskey, and wheat whiskey. Under 7th Master Distiller (and fellow countryman) Conor O’Driscoll the distillery was on course to fill almost 400,000 barrels last year and with continued investment production capacity is growing every year to meet rising demand.

Announced in February of this year, the third edition of the Heaven Hill Heritage Collection continues the distillery’s annual tradition of releasing an ultra-premium and ultra-aged whiskey. According to Heaven Hill, “This annual, highly limited release features some of the distillery’s oldest inventory of aging whiskey, continuing the standard of excellence Heaven Hill has practiced since 1935.” Each edition in the collection features just one of Heaven Hill’s six traditional mashbills, complementing its more innovative counterpart, the Parker’s Heritage Collection, to form the combined “Heritage Collection”, with  new releases scheduled for spring, while Parker’s Heritage Collection is typically released in fall.

For the 2024 edition, Heaven Hill has returned to their 78% corn, 12% malted barley, and 10% rye bourbon mashbill, bottling it as an 18-year-old Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey at a robust 120 proof. This year’s offering comes from 133 barrels filled in December 2005, sourced from the third floor of Rickhouse 1I. Master Distiller Conor O’Driscoll notes, “We pride ourselves on having the necessary patience to age, taste, re-taste, and select our whiskey at the moment we feel it is perfectly matured. This 18-year-old Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey epitomizes what consumers have come to expect from the highest quality of Heaven Hill’s releases.”

Each bottle is again presented in a premium box adorned in Heaven Hill’s signature blue with the double-H insignia stamped in gold. The packaging also provides detailed information, including warehouse locations, production dates, mashbill percentages, and other key designations, maintaining the brand’s dedication to transparency.

Vital Stats:

Name: Heaven Hill Heritage Collection 2024
Age: 18 y.o.
Proof: 120 proof (60% ABV)
Type: Kentucky straight bourbon
Mashbill: 78% corn, 10% rye, 12% malted barley
Producer: Heaven Hill Distillery, Louisville, KY
Website: https://heavenhilldistillery.com/heavenhill-heritage-collection.php
Glassware: Glencairn

Review

Nose: The nose opens complex with rich red fruits turning tart, bright cinnamon turning a touch sweet, warm caramels turning dark, fragrant charred oak, black pepper, and fire-roasted almonds. As you nose deeper, charred barrel notes continue to develop alongside darker fruits, richer dark chocolate, subtle cloves, and black pepper and trimmed with more fire-roasted honey almond notes.

Palate: The palate opens syruppy with rich sweet caramels and thick stewed fruits. A touch of herbaceous spice creeps from the mid-palate, bringing a gentle peppery heat, dark chocolate notes, dried red fruits, and earthy barrel spices. As the spice settles on the midpalate, the caramels, chocolate notes and barrel notes remain alongside some lingering fruit sweetness and charred caramelised almonds.

Finish: The finish opens with lingering peppery spice, caramels, rich dark fruits and herbaceous dark chocolate. The aftertaste is long and brings charred oak chocolate, dry barrel spices, dried fruits, fire toasted honey almonds and leaves your palate coated in layers of complex tannins.

Overall

This bourbon is undoubtedly exactly as good as you think it is. In fact, it’s probably better than you could imagine, because even dreaming up a bourbon with this level of robust complexity, viscosity, and balance between age, flavours, and proof is challenging. 

It’s lively yet mature, bold yet nuanced, and complex yet easy to sit back and sip with surprising ease. Every sip is infused with a classic Heaven Hill profile of complex barrel spices, dark caramels, stewed fruits, and caramelised fire-toasted almonds. These are then woven into intricate layers of endless complexity, framed with a mature herbaceous backbone, and wrapped snugly in a syruppy mouthfeel that keeps the spice in check without compromising on the balance or density of flavours. 

A word of warning I would extend to bourbon purists is this. Those expecting a toned-down, frail old bourbon in its later years with little more than tannic oak spice, thin caramel, copious vanilla, and excessive herbaceous notes will have to readjust those expectations by a lot. This release does not play by the rules, and despite being nearly 20 years old, the unmistakable talent of the team behind this release gives a bourbon that combines vitality, maturity, and complexity seamlessly. It’s tasty, it’s mature, and it leaves you with a warm Kentucky hug all without any detectable shortcomings or sacrifices to get it over the line – even at 120 proof! I recently sent some of this to a friend with what I consider to be a razor-sharp palate and his first guess was that this was a particularly good batch of Elijah Craig Barrel Proof – C923 to be exact and tasting it alongside him I could taste why. It has vibrant rich fruits, it has the bold 120 proof and all the trimmings you would expect, and it has all those hallmark flavours we’d expect from a high-proof Heaven Hill bourbon but wrapped in layers of mature oak complexity. 

Releases like this serve as a stark reminder of the pedigree and the quality of the stocks Heaven Hill has on hand. The entire concept of a Heritage Collection is to demonstrate the quality of the craftsmanship on offer from Heaven Hill as well as to give drinkers something which many of their competitors would struggle to replicate, and this release is the perfect example. Ageing bourbon to this age is a delicate skill in itself and the difference between a drinkable whiskey and one that’s bitter and over-oaked comes down to the knowledge and competence of your maturation team. Therefore, when distilleries like Heaven Hill show us that they’re willing to take that risk and release something of this quality it ultimately benefits both the distillery and the consumer.

Try or Buy?

With a suggested retail price of $300, this is definitely a try before you buy. However, if you’re a fan of Heaven Hill’s bourbons or feeling flush all I’ll say is that for an 18-year-old bourbon, it comes in at a great proof, does not disappoint, and may not come around again anytime soon!