Heaven Hill Bourbon Heritage Center
Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2004 12:15 pm
Last night I attended the ribbon cutting and grand opening for the new Heaven Hill Bourbon Heritage Center. I had worked with Solid Light, the design firm that designed the exhibits, at the Filson Historical Society finding information and images for the exhibits. It looked in the morning as if this was not going to be fun with a cold rain and temperatures about 45 degrees. Things started looking up at about 3:30 when the sun came out and the evening turned quite nice weatherwise.
I left straight from work to be at the event that started at 6:30. Traffic was good to me and I got there at 6:00. I had to cool my heels in the parking lot while the building was closed for a private media tour (Jim Murray, Gary and Mardee Regan, Stuart Ramsey and other national and international drinks writers) so the opening was going to get good press coverage. I was not alone as other local dignitaries showed and waited either in the parking lot or the tent outside the building for things to start. The outside of the building is very impressive with limestone, white oak and copper being the primary building materials.
By 6:30 things were starting to happen. Many people I knew such as Jimmy Russell and Jim Rutledge were there and conversation turned to the U of L Miami game (Jim Rutledge is a U of L Graduate with a very nice article about him in an alumni magazine that came out last spring). The came out and joined us so I got to talk with my friends in the press. Drinks were served (I had Evan Williams Single Barrel 1994) and food was served (finger food from waitresses circulating through the crowd). Max started the ceremonies talking about all the people that played a part in this project. State and local dignitaries then gave their speaches with Gov. Fletcher sending a proclomation that it was Heaven Hill Bourbon Heritage Day. They cut the ribbon and then we got to go in to see the interior.
I was one of the last to go in because I was talking with Sam Cecil (who is doing better than I thought but still looked weak and pale). The exhibits were very well done. Larry Kass and Josh Hafer (Marketing people for Heaven Hill) asked me not to get to picking the history apart. I told them not to worry that I would not rain on their parade and keep comments to myself. I was pleased to see that they were quite subtle in their marketing and simply not telling the whole truth in some cases but not telling lies. An example is Even Williams: They state that he was a perfessional distiller which is true in that he ran a distillery, but what they don't tell you is that his main business was brick making. Most of the oldest house in Louisville were made from bricks from his factory and that was the business that survived his death and was passed on to the next generation.
The exhibits are very well put together and informative. They had a family tree for the Beams who have always been their distillers. They do discuss the industry as a whole but of course focus on Heaven Hill brands. There is a theater with a video (I did not take time to watch it last night) and a gift shop. The thing that impressed me most was the tasting bar set up in the gift shop section. It is a round room with a great looking bar serving Heaven Hill products.
As a whole I was very impressed with the job they have done. The one thing I told Harry Shapira I think they need to say more about is Heaven Hill's history itself. I personally am impressed with the fact they are a company that had no distilling background or brands that survived when others did not. Taylor and Williams had the Yellowstone brand and the tradition of being a disttler but did not last past 1943. Henry McKenna, Waterfield and Frasier and other companies with long histories brands failed, but Heaven Hill did not. I would like to see some more on that in their displays.
After about another hour of socializing I left the place. I think it is a great place. My only other fear is that it might take the place of the Getz Museum in local support and that would not be good. The industry needs the non-bias museum to preserve its history and lord knows the Getz Museum gets very little support now, so a loss of support would be a tragedy.
Mike Veach
I left straight from work to be at the event that started at 6:30. Traffic was good to me and I got there at 6:00. I had to cool my heels in the parking lot while the building was closed for a private media tour (Jim Murray, Gary and Mardee Regan, Stuart Ramsey and other national and international drinks writers) so the opening was going to get good press coverage. I was not alone as other local dignitaries showed and waited either in the parking lot or the tent outside the building for things to start. The outside of the building is very impressive with limestone, white oak and copper being the primary building materials.
By 6:30 things were starting to happen. Many people I knew such as Jimmy Russell and Jim Rutledge were there and conversation turned to the U of L Miami game (Jim Rutledge is a U of L Graduate with a very nice article about him in an alumni magazine that came out last spring). The came out and joined us so I got to talk with my friends in the press. Drinks were served (I had Evan Williams Single Barrel 1994) and food was served (finger food from waitresses circulating through the crowd). Max started the ceremonies talking about all the people that played a part in this project. State and local dignitaries then gave their speaches with Gov. Fletcher sending a proclomation that it was Heaven Hill Bourbon Heritage Day. They cut the ribbon and then we got to go in to see the interior.
I was one of the last to go in because I was talking with Sam Cecil (who is doing better than I thought but still looked weak and pale). The exhibits were very well done. Larry Kass and Josh Hafer (Marketing people for Heaven Hill) asked me not to get to picking the history apart. I told them not to worry that I would not rain on their parade and keep comments to myself. I was pleased to see that they were quite subtle in their marketing and simply not telling the whole truth in some cases but not telling lies. An example is Even Williams: They state that he was a perfessional distiller which is true in that he ran a distillery, but what they don't tell you is that his main business was brick making. Most of the oldest house in Louisville were made from bricks from his factory and that was the business that survived his death and was passed on to the next generation.
The exhibits are very well put together and informative. They had a family tree for the Beams who have always been their distillers. They do discuss the industry as a whole but of course focus on Heaven Hill brands. There is a theater with a video (I did not take time to watch it last night) and a gift shop. The thing that impressed me most was the tasting bar set up in the gift shop section. It is a round room with a great looking bar serving Heaven Hill products.
As a whole I was very impressed with the job they have done. The one thing I told Harry Shapira I think they need to say more about is Heaven Hill's history itself. I personally am impressed with the fact they are a company that had no distilling background or brands that survived when others did not. Taylor and Williams had the Yellowstone brand and the tradition of being a disttler but did not last past 1943. Henry McKenna, Waterfield and Frasier and other companies with long histories brands failed, but Heaven Hill did not. I would like to see some more on that in their displays.
After about another hour of socializing I left the place. I think it is a great place. My only other fear is that it might take the place of the Getz Museum in local support and that would not be good. The industry needs the non-bias museum to preserve its history and lord knows the Getz Museum gets very little support now, so a loss of support would be a tragedy.
Mike Veach