Whiskey drinkers tend to possess very subjective ideas about what does and does not constitute “value” within a category like scotch or bourbon, but there have been a few products over the years that were universally agreed upon to pretty much always be steals. Heaven Hill is no stranger to this—for years, they made several bourbons that the whiskey cognoscenti regularly hailed as being among the best bargains in the liquor world. One of them, the 12 year old version of Elijah Craig, was one of the few well-aged bourbons that could regularly be found for under $30. But the best pure value? That pretty much always belonged to Heaven Hill Bottled in Bond, a brand that was pretty much legendary among bourbon diehards. Aged 6 years and boasting a strength of 100 proof, but often available for $15 or even less, the whiskey was only sold regularly in Kentucky, but it still made its way around the U.S. as a sought-after value. Combining Heaven Hill’s well-liked profile with rock bottom pricing and a proof strong enough to stand up to any kind of mixing/cocktail application, it was a go-to for countless drinkers.
And then Heaven Hill retired it, in 2018.
Oh, it wasn’t a surprise—not really, anyway. As the category had grown up around it, and pricing had become more standardized across the industry, and as the rise of craft bourbon helps push all price points higher, anyone who knew whiskey could see that these kinds of deals wouldn’t last forever. It would have been crazy for Heaven Hill to keep selling that bourbon at that price forever, when comparable competitors were charging double or more for roughly the same product. And so, the distillery retired the venerable 6-year BiB Bourbon, also known as Heaven Hill “white label,” and returned to the drawing board. What they came back with is a very slightly changed version of Heaven Hill Bottled in Bond, featuring a predictably premiumized price tag.
Once again: Not really a shock here, although a lot of bourbon geeks will forever pine for the earlier bargain days. Still, at least Heaven Hill didn’t simply bring back the exact same product—Bottled in Bond now carries a 7 year age statement, rather than 6. That won’t make a lot of people really happy about an MSRP jump of $15 to $40, but then again, the original version was never sold on a national scale anyway. The biggest impact here might actually be to increase the price of the already sought-after Henry McKenna Bottled in Bond, also from Heaven Hill, considering that’s a 10-year whiskey that has previously retailed around the same level. Elijah Craig, meanwhile, has the benefit in this case of now being non-age-statement, which would theoretically help it resist price changes.