A couple of brand questions

[TBoner]

I have questions about two brands I spotted this week.

One is Hill & Hill. I have seen it mentioned in passing, but am curious who would have been distilling and/or bottling it in 1985, as I passed on two bottles of it at a hole in the wall. Should I return and pick them up (80 proof, if that helps). A search for this on the board turns up every thread with Heaven Hill or Rock Hill Farms in it.

The second is Old Heaven Hill. I found a 1.75 of Old HH BIB bottled in 1994. Distilled and bottled at Heaven Hill. I bought it b/c it was cheap ($14), bonded, and I haven't seen this brand here in Texas. From what I've ascertained on the board, it's probably decent whiskey. My question about it is, basically, is this stuff still produced, and if so, is it any good today? Related, where is it distributed? I might like to get a current bottling if it's still around and if it might be significantly diff., so I can do a side-by-side.

Thanks for any insight.

[Old Bill]

In Minnesota, my local store stocks both regular Heaven Hill and HH bottled in bond. I've tried the regular, and it's a pretty good, and for the 12 bucks I paid, a deal, too. Bottled in bond, haven't tried yet. Honestly, I think the lack of marketing support for the brand keeps the price point low.

[cowdery]

Heaven Hill actually makes a lot of products under the Heaven Hill brand name, including vodka, rum and gin. Most are not widely distributed outside of Kentucky. Some are distributor brands, in that the distributor picks an age, proof and label, and those may come and go (so it's hard to address a specific expression), but Heaven Hill is just doing exactly what they have been doing for 70+ years and I'm sure they will continue.

Hill & Hill was, originally, a Western Kentucky brand. I'm not sure if there were ever really two Hills but one of the original founders, prior to 1881, was Alexander Hill. The Hill & Hill name dates from at least 1889.

The Wathens bought the distillery and its aging stock during Prohibition and it became part of American Medicinal Spirits (AMS). Hill & Hill was the brand they used for bottling that whiskey. AMS subsequently morphed into National Distillers, which sold the distillery after repeal but kept the brand. It was one of the large number of cat-and-dog brands Jim Beam acquired when it acquired National in 1987. The whiskey in a Hill & Hill bottling from about that time would have been made either at Old Crow or Old Grand-Dad, which were National's two active bourbon distilleries at the time of the sale.