Anyone who is familiar with the firearms world knows of Heckler and Koch. The old joke about them is “H&K: Because you suck and we hate you”. This stemmed from their abysmal customer support, their lack of communicating with customers, and their exorbitant pricing. They’ve done a lot to erase this by 2019, but it seems like Heaven Hill is going the opposite way.

I’m going to go ahead and summarize why I feel this way and then dive in.

–Elijah Craig 12: Age statement removed

–Elijah Craig 18, supposedly returned as a result of age statement removal….at over 3 times the prior price

–Old Fitzgerald Bottled in Bond discontinued (bet you all forgot about that one)

–Heaven Hill 6 Year Bottled in Bond Discontinued

–Heaven Hill announces a 7 year Bottled in Bond to replace the 6 year….at almost 3x the cost

–Virgin Bourbon has its age statement removed

–Heaven Hill’s 3 of the last 4 Parker’s Heritage releases have been mediocre to exceptionally poor (2015 malt being the exceptionally poor)

–Heaven Hill finally announces a rye for the Parker’s release….for it to only be 8 years and 107 proof (2 years more than Pikesville and 3 less proof points) and 3x the price of Pikesville (I’m sensing a trend)

That list is pretty extensive for only being from the last 4 years-ish of changes. Some are more forgivable than others but when you stack them up it really seems like Heaven Hill is squarely against the enthusiast market. This hurts me all the more as I’ve been a Heaven Hill devotee for a long time. Elijah Craig Barrel Proof was my go to and my answer for “favorite whiseky”

Now some will say what about JTS Brown or Evan Williams Bottled in Bond? Sure, they still offer some value bourbons, less than before, but for how long? They’ve killed two bottled in bond brands already and removed the age from another fine affordable whiskey. More people will say what about ECBP that I mentioned above? Yup, it’s still a great 12 year barrel proof whiskey…but it’s not as good as what it was before the bottle change, for proof go search it on /r/bourbon and see the reviews and comparisons.

Old Fitz Bottled in Bond was an exceptional whiskey for the price, they killed it I suppose so it wouldn’t be confused with the high end, expensive decanters.

Heaven Hill 6 year Bottled in Bond was beloved by Kentucky, the only place it was distributed, how much stock could it really have taken away and kept that enthusiast loyalty? And to replace it with a $40, 1 year older variant? While ALSO killing a 7 year 101 brand in Virgin bourbon.

There was a huge outcry when Elijah Craig lost its age statement and now they’re doing 12 year picks? Are there 12 year stocks or not? And to remove it for the current iteration of Elijah Craig 18 (a very tanic, over-oaked bourbon at $120) with a 3x price increase? A crime.

Lastly, people have been clamoring for an aged rye from the Parker’s series after a number of disappointing releases. What does Heaven Hill give us? An 8 year old rye at 107 proof. Two years more than Pikesville, 3 proof points lower, for $150. Granted it goes to charity and it will sell, but come on!?! You can walk into Kroger and get Knob Creek cask strength 2010, a 9 year old cask strength delicious Kentucky Rye for $60.

That’s not to say that dumping on the enthusiast community will hurt their sales. It won’t, Evan Williams black label is what, the 2nd largest selling bourbon in the world? They’ll sell every bottle of the 7 year bottled in bond they produce, every bottle of EC18, and every bottle of the Parker’s. They are a company and their goal is to make money. I get it. That doesn’t mean we, as the enthusiast community, should forget all their transgressions.