Very Rare Old Heaven Hill Bottled in Bond 10yr

[squire]

Hey Christian, my take is the same. I discovered this brand about 18 years ago while in Bardstown, tried it and returned to Toddy's for a case to go.

[smokinjoe]

When this one went, it went quick! I always picked up at least a couple of these gems every time I went to Kentucky. When I heard it was being discontinued I intended to grab it by the case. Unfortunately, I was too late It was a terrific, low cost bourbon.

[MissingKY]

Joe, I noticed the same thing that when this disappeared from the shelves, it disappeared quickly and completely. I'm originally from western Kentucky, and bourbon actually doesn't always move all that quickly there. (I've cleared a lot of good mid-90's dusties out of my hometown in the last few years.) There was always a ton of VROHH on the shelves when I was home, and it always seemed like I got some sort of, "Don't sell much of this one..." comment when I bought a bottle. I don't think it was a big mover at any of the places I shopped.

Then, one trip home, it had totally disappeared over a period of like 3 months between last summer and last fall. I went to every liquor store in town, probably 7-8 in all, and I couldn't find one lousy bottle of it. A lot of these places had had dozens of bottles just a few months earlier. The disappearance was so quick and so complete that I wondered if a distributor had run a buyback for it or something. It's a real shame, because this was one of my all-time favorite bourbons. Not just for the money, but I really thought it was great whiskey regardless of the price. It's definitely in my top 10.

[G-Rat]

Sad sad news folks...do you think that the dissapearance of this Bourbon has anything to do with the fire at Heaven Hill and their desire to pull a less profitable lower end label to keep producing stuff like Elijah Craig and the like...or am I completely misreading the situation? I would LOVE to get a hold of some of this.

G

[squire]

G my take on it is Heaven Hill wanted to use their aged stocks in more profitable brands.

[G-Rat]

squire that makes total sense. And for Heaven Hill's part this makes sense as well with trends (now standards) towards supreme bourbons being the main offerings...like everything else in the food and drink world.

The next questions is:
Did this ever sell outside of Kentucky? If so I'm sure there is some lying around somewhere...

[squire]

I asked that very question from someone who would know and was told "not sure" and then the guy launched into a distillery anecdote.

[mozilla]

HH can bottle any label that is current with the TTB. It is only that they choose not to.

As far as other more profitable labels....which might those be? None of the HH stable are very pricey. Last time I found some VROHH Bib...it was $12/750ml.

Some VROHH 8yr 86 has been spotted in Oregon...some time back.

[squire]

Just occurred to me there should be no reason the Distilleries couldn't buy back their product and dump it into a new melding. Whiskey laws and regulations are so screwy sometimes, anybody know? Chuck, MikeV?

[Virus_Of_Life]

Last time I found some VROHH Bib...it was $12/750ml.

Some VROHH 8yr 86 has been spotted in Oregon...some time back.

And the 8year 86 proof is good and similar to the 10yr BiB (I have an open bottle now), albeit more expensive here in Oregon. But then again, most booze is more expensive in Oregon than most places.