United States, Kentucky, Bardstown. Distillery operational. Owner: Heaven Hill Distilleries Inc. Independent & family-ownedThe distillery was built in 1935 by the Shapira brothers just after Prohibition was repealed. It was named after the farmer William Heavenhill, who owned the land on which the company was built. The Heaven Hill bourbon was released on the market in 1940. In the early 50s, the Shapira family decided to recruit Earl Beam (nephew of the famous Jim Beam) as Master Distiller. His son and great-grandson would maintain intact the line of Heaven Hill master distillers. In 1957, they decided to launch a heritage range in which each bottling bore the name of an important figure in the bourbon's history, featuring Evan Williams, JTS Brown, Elijah Craig and Henry McKenna (introduced in the early 80s). The Bardstown site is now home to the company's head office and production has been moved to Louisville, to the site of the Bernheim distillery which they have also owned since 1996.

Heaven Hill is one of the largest independent producers of bourbon and the seventh largest spirits producer in the United States. Deeply attached to its roots, the distillery uses only maize from the wide plains surrounding the distillery. Interestingly, Heaven Hill also uses the same proportions of grains to produce all of its straight bourbons, Elijah Craig, Old Fitzgerald and Evan Williams. Alongside Bernheim Original, Heaven Hill was also responsible for the revival of straight wheat whiskey, a category that had long since disappeared.

Evan Williams 23 Year Old is a bourbon produced and bottled at Heaven Hill in Bardstown. The brand was launched in 1957 and is named after Evan Williams, who is credited with opening the first distillery in Kentucky in 1783.