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Heaven Hill

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Looking up the barrel elevator shaft.
5 / 17

Looking up the barrel elevator shaft.

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  • Heaven Hill's visitor center, the Bourbon Heritage Center.
  • Sampling the barrels. The copper 'whiskey thief' is used to draw out a sample for tasting.
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  • Looking up the barrel elevator shaft.
  • A new rickhouse. Notice how new and clean everything is compared to the other rickhouse images on this site!
  • Heaven Hill acquired the Bernheim Distillery in Louisville in 1999. This facility was built in 1992 and is quite modern. The distilled whiskey is transported to Bardstown where it is barreled, aged, and finally bottled. There are aging warehouses on this site, but more about those later. Heaven Hill maintains a beautiful visitors center in Bardstown where they give tours and testing’s. The Bernheim distillery is not generally open to the public.
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  • Heaven Hill's spirit safes. After each of the two distillations the spirit passes through one of these ornate boxes where measurements are taken and quality is be checked. The Brown Forman distillery is located next door. In the Kentucky Bourbon industry it is traditional for competitors to help each other out whenever needed. It is not uncommon for these neighbors to distill for each other when one plant can't meet demand.
  • All of Heaven Hill's whiskey recipes (rye and wheat flavored bourbons, rye whiskey, wheat whiskey, corn whiskey) are run through one of their two identical column stills.
  • The fermenter room. In these tanks the yeast is added to cooked mash to convert sugars into alcohol. A single strain of yeast is used for all their whiskey. Heaven Hill contracts an outside firm to culture their proprietary yeast strain and deliver it back to them in dry form.
  • Mash Cooker - 14,000 gallon capacity. Water and grain are heated to just the right temperature to release the starches that will later be converted to alcohol.
  • A single fermenter with a 123,000 gallon capacity. Fermentation is scheduled to run for 3-5 days, depending on the week's schedule. These tanks have a closed top and extend through the wall of the building.
  • The distillery site includes these large masonry aging warehouses. Heaven Hill prefers to age its own whiskey labels in iron clad warehouses at Bardstown. These warehouses are used to age brandy and whiskey that will be used in non-Heaven Hill labels. They are heated in the winter to prevent the sprinkler system pipes from freezing.
  • The drying house is no longer used by Heaven Hill. The watery porridge that is left over after the fermented grain mash is distilled has traditionally been used as a highly nutritious livestock feed. Some distilleries dry it to a course flour for easier packaging and transport. The sale of this product eliminates waste and can cover much of the cost of buying the original grain. Heaven Hill has decided to forego the expense and trouble of drying the 'slop' by giving it away for free to any farmer who brings their own tanker truck to fill. If there is an excess they give it to the Brown Forman Distillery (next door) who are happy to dry and sell it.
  • Grain storage silos.
  • A display inside the Bourbon Heritage Center.
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