Heaven Hill Distilleries Inc.

Joseph L. Beam, first cousin of the famous distiller Jim Beam, was one of the founding partners of Heaven Hill in 1935. Joe Beam was Heaven Hill’s first Master Distiller and one of his descendants has been Master Distiller ever since, with Parker Beam and his son, Craig Beam the current Master Distillers at Heaven Hill.

On 7th November 1996, a fire started in one of the Heaven Hill's ageing warehouses and quickly spread to other buildings with some 90,000 barrels of bourbon ablaze.
Witnesses talk of a river of fire flowing from the warehouses and flames that leapt hundreds of feet, lighting up the night-time sky. The facility was almost entirely destroyed.

For several years the company relied on neighbours such as Brown-Forman and Jim Beam for its production until its 1999 purchase of the historic Bernheim Distillery in Louisville. Heaven Hill’s fermenting, mashing and distilling now takes place at the new distillery while aging and bottling remains at the original Bardstown location.