Heaven Hill 90th Anniversary Bourbon Review

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The whiskey industry has a complex relationship with the calendar. If you pay close enough attention to modern marketing strategies, you have probably noticed that nearly every distillery seems to be celebrating an anniversary on any given Tuesday. In fact, the last article I wrote had a tidbit about the BTAC version of EH Taylor where Buffalo Trace wanted you to know 2025 was the 135th Anniversary of Warehouse C being built. I mean, I get it, but in the same breath, WHO CARES?! These manufactured milestones are often thinly veiled excuses to slap a premium price tag on a shiny new bottle. However, the Heaven Hill 90th Anniversary Limited Edition carries a weight that most commemorative releases lack.

Celebrating nine decades of continuous, independent family ownership is a difficult achievement in the modern era dominated by massive corporate conglomerates. Heaven Hill was founded by the Shapira family in 1935. The company has survived market crashes, the downturn of bourbon, “The Glut” and a literal fire in 1996 that nearly ended the brand. Their survival and subsequent acquisition of the Bernheim Distillery (1999) in Louisville allowed their legacy to persist as an independent distiller rather than seeing their labels sold off to a larger corporation. In 2025, they are marking this ninety year run with a highly specific nine year old bourbon that serves as a showcase for their resilience.

“Barrel Math”

The liquid carries a highly specific age statement of 9 years and 8 months. What caught my attention was the deliberate ratio of barrel char they laid out. The blending team opted to use 70 percent standard Level 3 barrels combined with 30 percent Level 4 barrels. And just as an FYI, Heaven Hill’s char level of choice is typically Level 3, but over the last 6 years we’ve seen many “Heavy Char” versions come out.

Level 3 char is the workhorse of the Heaven Hill portfolio, but Level 4 char is can be a different animal. Known in the industry as “alligator char,” (see the inside of a Level 4 barrel and you’ll understand) this heavy charring typically creates a deeper layer of sticky sweets, can lead to more aggressive tannins and might also release some extra spice. I’m taking a guess here, but Heaven Hill might avoid using this Level 4 barrels because a lot of them undergo longer aging times and might become overwhelmingly bitter and astringent. The heavy wood influence could mask the underlying spirit as well. All of this is not a given, just a risk that they might not want to take.

Moving on, the 90th Anniversary Batch was created from 204 barrels all filled on December 13, 2015 – which was Heaven Hill’s 80th Anniversary. The barrels had an entry proof of 107. I think this is the most important statistic that few people are talking about. It’s extremely rare that Heaven Hill ever puts distillate in a barrel below 125 proof (even their wheated bourbon, which I think is why it isn’t as good as competitors). Then the barrels were aged on the fourth and sixth floors of Rickhouses G and H in their Bardstown campus. These pre-fire wooden rickhouses sit on an incline and provide excellent airflow. The fourth floor provides a temperate, balanced maturation environment, while the hotter sixth floor forces more expansion/contraction during the hot seasons.

After all barrels were dumped and blended, the production crew decided it should be bottled at 107 proof. This effectively makes it a “Full Proof” bourbon even if they didn’t use that verbiage on the label. The final product was also not chill-filtered. This is something that Heaven Hill isn’t particularly known for doing (although they do use charcoal filtering at the final stage, but that is usually ran through a bucket of loose charcoal dust to trap large debris from entering the final product). The hope was that it would result in a fuller-flavored profile that remained true to how bourbon tasted back in Heaven Hill’s early days.

So what was the end result? Let’s find out. This review is the result of many of my friends (thanks Mike, James and Steve!) who have shared their bottles over over the last two months. As usual, I sampled this neat in a glencairn.

Tasting Notes

Nose: The nose is unmistakably Heaven Hill in its delivery. What I mean by that is I can always find its sweet, dessert-forward scents of caramel, vanilla, sweet nuts and oak whenever I stick my nose in the glass – kind of like and oaky candy bar. There is a small hint of sweetened stone fruit as well as some tobacco notes as well. The nose is somewhat simple in its delivery, but very pleasant overall. I would gladly sniff this all day long.

Palate: High proof Heaven Hill bourbon that’s under 12 years old usually has a “bite” about it that I’m not always a fan of. What I find with the 90th Anniversary release is that note seems to be much more subdued. I’m wondering if that can be attributed to the low barrel entry proof leading to a more mellow maturation? Anyway, I’m surprised to find this being much more “cherry-forward” than I have previously experienced with Heaven Hill products. Other fruits come forward too – dates and maybe even some Fig Newtons. There is cocoa and ground cinnamon giving a nice contrast to the sweetness along with a hint of allspice. One thing that has me impressed more than most is the fact the mouthfeel is somewhat creamy – that’s usually something I think Heaven Hill struggles with for whatever reason. The nuttiness I was expecting is barely there – a good thing in my mind!

Finish: The barrel spice – previously something that I wasn’t finding much of – is finally making its appearance on the finish. Same goes with barrel influence because the I can taste the tannins settling in. Toffee sweetness keeps things balanced and I can also find a bit of fruit leathers and cherry cordials towards the end. This surprises me a bit!

Score: 8.2/10

At an MSRP of $125, the Heaven Hill 90th Anniversary Limited Edition seems like a somewhat fair price for the value you get. I would argue that this bottle offers a true “Heritage Collection” experience at a fraction of the cost of the distillery’s much older 17, 18, 19 and 20-year-old limited releases (granted, some of those aren’t bourbons). And if you think I’m not right about that, I still think there’s something to be said about paying for the unique barrel entry proof and much of the lore that this bottle carries.

In an odd way, I still think that HH90th doesn’t provide that kind of “wow” factor that I was expecting with a bottle like this. But where it shines is that its delivery onto your tongue is very “un-Heaven Hillish.” There’s a mellowness about the bourbon that I don’t typically find until their bourbon hits at least 12-years-old. I’m going to attribute it to the low barrel entry proof. I was also impressed by the increase of fruit and chocolate notes throughout the spectrum. I was thinking about this while I was sipping on it, but I think one of the best compliments I could give it was that it was like a “baby Parker’s Heritage Double Barreled Blend.“

Final Thoughts

Obviously, no review of a high-priced, premium Heaven Hill release can be complete without acknowledging – and comparing it to – the existence of Elijah Craig Barrel Proof. Love it or hate it, ECBP still offers some of the best bang-for-your-buck on the bourbon market – reduced age statement and all. It is where flavor, proof, age and value all come together in an unbeatable combination. And while it’s by no means the perfect bourbon, it may be the perfect all-around bourbon when accessibility is also factored in.

So does HH90th prove it’s worth $50 more than a standard release of ECBP? I think it’s very close. I also believe the majority of enthusiasts shared my opinion because the rush to sell theirs on the secondary market to make a quick buck burned out quicker than almost all other recent releases in my memory. It’s value fell because I think that people weren’t impressed enough by it. I think this is a perfectly acceptable bottle at $125, but can’t see myself liking it enough to spend over $200. Still, this was a great effort by Heaven Hill and I can only hope that we see more releases featuring a low barrel entry proof in the future. And maybe if they do, they won’t feel the need to put it only in a limited release bottle!