Heaven Hill Heritage Collection 20-Year-Old Kentucky Straight Corn Whiskey is the second installation in the Heaven Hill Heritage Collection. (Photo: Heaven Hill)

On Thursday, Bardstown, Kentucky-based whiskey producer Heaven Hill announced the release of Heaven Hill Heritage Collection 20-Year-Old Kentucky Straight Corn Whiskey, according to The Bourbon Review.

This whiskey is the second edition of the Heaven Hill Heritage Collection.

Bottled at 115 proof, Heaven Hill Heritage Collection 20-Year-Old Kentucky Straight Corn Whiskey will be released at a suggested retail price of $289.99 and will start shipping March 1.

The 2023 Heritage Collection edition features Heaven Hill’s corn whiskey mashbill, composed of 80% corn, 12% malted barley and 8% rye. The release is made up entirely of 110 barrels produced in October 2002 pulled from the third floor of Heaven Hill’s Rickhouse 1K.

The Heaven Hill Heritage Collection

The Heaven Hill Heritage Collection debuted last year and will continue to release a new expression each spring across the U.S.

“The Heaven Hill Heritage Collection reflects the true craftsmanship, patience and consistency which are hallmarks of Heaven Hill’s whiskey making traditions,” Master Distiller Conor O’ Driscoll said, per The Bourbon Review. “The ability to offer consumers an ultra-aged corn whiskey product is a true testament to the forward-thinking innovation the company has practiced for decades and continues to practice to this day.”

The first Heaven Hill Heritage Collection release, Heaven Hill Heritage Collection 17 Year 1st Edition, launched last March and now resells for well over $1,000 on secondary markets. Read our review of that whiskey here.

As with last year’s Heritage Collectio release, this year’s bottling will be housed in a blue box with Heaven Hill’s insignia stamped in gold. Details about the whiskey such as warehouse site location, production date and mashbill percentages are featured on the packaging.

Corn Whiskey vs. Bourbon

If you’re a whiskey head, you may have spotted that 80% corn content in the mashbill and wondered why this isn’t classified as a bourbon, which must be distilled from a mashbill composed of at least 51% corn.

Corn whiskey is actually a separate, much less common, category. For starters, the mash of corn whiskey must be at least 80%. The most significant difference between bourbon and corn whiskey, however, is that while bourbon must be aged in charred, new oak barrels, corn whiskey cannot be.

Instead, corn whiskey must be aged in containers that haven’t been charred or have bee previously used to age spirit.

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