Heaven Hill Parker's Heritage 19th Edition Limited Release Barrel Strength Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey (2025) 75cl
A release that prompts overnight queuing in Kentucky only available in Kentucky in allocated release or at the distillery at Heaven Hill in Bardstown. One of the most highly sought after collections of bourbon with proceeds of the bottle going to the ALS research after the death of Parker Beam
In 2010, Parker Beam, Master Distiller at Heaven Hill Distillery, was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Fighting silently for three years, he decided to announce his diagnosis publicly in 2013, along with his plan to bring more awareness to the topic. Working with company leaders at Heaven Hill, Parker came up with a creative idea that utilized his 56 years of Whiskey distilling expertise to aid in his new fight against ALS.
The 19th Edition is comprised of 160 barrels drawn from multiple rickhouses and floors across Heaven Hill’s rickhouse sites. The blend includes 15-year-old Kentucky Straight Wheated Bourbon, aged in Rickhouse A; 11-year-old Kentucky Straight Corn Whiskey aged in Rickhouses DD, GG, and BB; and 12-year-old Whiskey aged in Rickhouse Y, made from only two grains – rye and malt. Each mashbill was aged in unique rickhouses and floors, then married together post-aging.
Each year since 2007, Heaven Hill Distillery releases a new expression in its sought-after Parker’s Heritage Collection. The collectible series gets its name from legendary master distiller Parker Beam—grandnephew of Jim Beam—who spent nearly six decades working at the distillery, during which he created such iconic labels as Elijah Craig Small Batch, Evan Williams Vintage Single Barrel, Rittenhouse Rye, and others. Beam was diagnosed with ALS in 2010, and shifted into an emeritus position at the distillery until his death in 2017. As a way of paying tribute to him, every Parker’s Heritage release from 2013 onward contributed a portion of its sales toward ALS research—raising more than $1.4 million over the years.
The collection is best known for its many creative expressions, which often showcase an experimental production process. Each batch typically starts with well-aged whiskey and features an interesting maturation, finishing cask, or unique mashbill. This year’s version isn’t a finished whiskey, but it triples down on the other two categories: showcasing the art of blending by combining 160 barrels representing three different types of ultra-aged whiskeys.
The oldest whiskey in the blend is a 15 year old wheated bourbon with a mashbill of 68% corn, 20% wheat, and 12% malted barley—the same recipe used in some of its other wheaters like Larceny and Old Fitzgerald. Aged in Rickhouse A, which is located on the former site of Glencoe Distillery just north of Bardstown, it comprises 40% of the blend.
A 20% share is taken by an 11 year old corn whiskey made from 80% corn, 12% malted barley, and 8% rye. It’s the same mashbill that Heaven Hill uses to make Mellow Corn, a 4 year old corn whiskey that’s a bit underrated as a sipper but is widely popular with mixologists for its straightforward sweet profile that works well in a wide array of cocktails.
The remaining 40% of the blend accounts for what’s perhaps the most interesting ingredient. Unlike the other two, which use standard mashbills found in other Heaven Hill whiskeys, this one is unique to the blend. It’s a 12 year old American whiskey with a 50/50 mashbill of rye and malted barley. That unusual mashbill prevents it from being classified as either a rye (which requires at least 51% rye) or a malt whiskey (requiring at least 51% malted barley), so it falls somewhere in between.
According to master distiller Conor O’Driscoll, the rye/malt component was the result of a very limited production run. “We’ve been testing and experimenting with a variety of malt blends for several years. For the 50/50 rye malt, we liked the taste profile and felt it had the perfect balance of earthiness from the malt, as well as spice from the rye,” he said. “However, we hadn’t produced too much of it because we knew it couldn’t have an official designation as a rye malt or malt, given the 50/50 blend. We found this Parker’s release as the perfect opportunity to utilize it.”
TASTING NOTES
Peanuts, unbuttered popcorn, milk chocolate, chocolate frosting, vanilla, pipe tobacco, and sweet oak on a complex, very inviting nose. On the palate, it’s a bit hot and could use a rock, but it holds its proof well, delivering a thick and rich mouthfeel, generous red berries, orange slices, more chocolate, almond, coconut, baked cherries, and bitter espresso. The finish has great texture and offers more red berries and rich dark chocolate, asserting themselves at the end.—David Fleming
Final Score: 94 / 100
About Heaven Hill
Heaven Hill Distilleries, Inc. is a private family-owned and -operated American distillery, founded in 1935 and headquartered in Bardstown, Kentucky. It produces and markets Heaven Hill Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey and ten other brands of bourbon, along with a variety of other distilled spirits, brandies, and cordials. Its current distillery facility, called the Heaven Hill Bernheim distillery, is in Louisville, Kentucky. It is the seventh-largest alcohol supplier in the United States, the second-largest holder of bourbon whiskey inventory in the world, and the largest independent family-owned and -operated producer and marketer of distilled spirits in the United States. It is also the only remaining large family-owned distillery company headquartered in Kentucky, with Brown-Forman Corporation publicly traded and family-owned Sazerac Company headquartered in Louisiana.
Heaven Hill was founded by several investors shortly after the repeal of Prohibition in 1935, including a prominent distiller, Joseph L. Beam, and a member of the Shapira family. As the company developed, the five brothers of the Shapira family bought out the other investors. Joe Beam remained as Master Distiller, along with his youngest son, Harry. Descendants of the Shapira brothers own and operate the company today. All of the Master Distillers at Heaven Hill since its founding have been members of the Beam family.
The original Master Distiller was Joseph L. Beam, Jim Beam's first cousin. He was followed by his son, Harry, who was followed by Earl Beam, the son of Jim Beam's brother, Park. Earl Beam was succeeded by the current Master Distillers, Parker Beam and his son, Craig Beam. The original name was "Old Heavenhill Springs" distillery. The company was founded as a bourbon distillery, with a model focused on providing bulk whiskey for third parties on a basis of futures (a buyer would purchase fresh whiskey, to be held in Heaven Hill's warehouses until the buyer paid the government tax to have it released). It also focused on its flagship bourbon labels, Evan Williams and Elijah Craig. In the past two decades the company has expanded its portfolio, acquiring brands or obtaining import rights for gins, malt whiskey, vodkas, and other drinks. On November 7, 1996, Heaven Hill's production plant (registered plant DSP-KY-31) was almost completely destroyed by fire. The fire started in an aging warehouse and spread to other buildings and vehicles. 90,000 barrels (approximately 7.7 million gallons) of flammable bourbon were consumed. A "river of fire" flowed from the warehouses. From one account of the fire: "Flames leapt hundreds of feet into the air and lit the sky throughout the night. Witnesses reported seeing whiskey barrels explode and rocket across the sky like shooting stars ... a two-mile long stretch of the creek that supplied process water to the distillery was set ablaze for a brief time."
The company survived the next several years through the provision of production capacity by its fellow local bourbon labels, Brown–Forman and Jim Beam, until its purchase and adaptation of the Bernheim distillery in Louisville (registered plant DSP-KY-1) from Diageo in 1999. While fermenting, mashing, and distilling occurs at the new distillery, aging, bottling, and shipping still occur in Bardstown. With the 2003 acquisition of distribution rights to Hpnotiq, Heaven Hill greatly expanded their product base beyond bourbon. Hpnotiq is now the fourth-highest-selling imported liqueur in the US. While bourbon is still its main focus, Heaven Hill now distributes a wide variety of different products. The Heaven Hill company strongly emphasizes the history and traditions of bourbon in its public relations, highlighting the company's location in the historical home of bourbon-making and its status as the only such company still under local ownership.
In 2004, the Heaven Hill Distilleries Bourbon Heritage Center was opened on the old distillery grounds, providing historical exhibits and guided tours of the plant. The company also hosts the annual Kentucky Bourbon Festival, and several of the company's brands are named after famous local distillers. Since 2010, Heaven Hill has invested more than $100m in distillery expansions, warehouse construction, and bourbon tourism. In November 2018, Heaven Hill announced a $65m multi-year investment into expanding operations, which includes a renovation of the Bourbon Heritage Center. In September 2021, about 420 workers, all members of the United Food and Commercial Workers union, went on strike due to disagreements over the terms of a new labour contract. In February 2022, Heaven Hill acquired Samson & Surrey, the owner of Widow Jane and Few. In 2023, Heaven Hill Brands settled a legal dispute with Log Still Distillery over Log Still's use of the "J.W. Dant" name. Heaven Hill had originally purchased the trademark in 1993, and had sued Log Still for trademark infringement in 2021, after the distillery claimed on its website that it was "reviving the Dant legacy".
61.25% ABV
75cl
