Heaven Hill announces wheated bourbon Larceny

Kentucky-based distiller Heaven Hill is to release a new wheated bourbon, Larceny, into 12 US markets this September.

Heaven Hill’s wheated bourbon Larceny will be available in select US states from September

Using a mashbill featuring wheat in place of the rye typically used in bourbons, Larceny plays heir to the wheated bourbons from Old Fitzgerald, the franchise Heaven Hill acquired in 1999.

Its name is derived from the underhanded manner in which Old Fitzgerald founder and supposed master distiller John E. Fitzgerald used to acquire bourbon from private warehouses in the late 1800s.

Having selected the finest bourbons for himself using his ‘discerning palate’, Fitzgerald would pass it off as his own, exclusively selling it to steamship lines, rail lines and private clubs.

As such, Larceny has adopted the tagline – A taste made famous by an infamous act.

Wheated bourbon

Now a small batch bourbon aged for six to 12 years in fewer than 100 barrels on the 4^th, 5^th and 6^th floors of Heaven Hill’s open rick warehouses in Nelson County, Kentucky, Larceny is produced by father and son master distillers Parker and Craig Beam.

Heaven Hill describes its character as being typically softer and rounder than rye bourbons, which tend to have spicier and fruitier flavours.

It will be rolled out across 12 states in September – California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Missouri, North Carolina, New York, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia – but is expected to receive wider distribution in 2013.

The 46% abv bourbon will be available in 50ml, 750ml, 1 litre and 1.75 litre bottles, with an RRP of US$24.99 for 750ml.

It will be available in both the on- and off-trade, with the brand’s primary target audience being men aged 30-50 years. Full POS will be available for stockists.

Its release marks the first wheated bourbon from Heaven Hill since the popular but now sold out 2010 edition of Parker’s Heritage Collection, a product the company describes as ‘one of the most highly regarded and sought out bottlings in Heaven Hill’s 75 years of distilling’.