Is Heaven Hill Gunning For Buffalo Trace?

If you haven’t heard yet, Heaven Hill has announced a new bottle in their Heritage Collection. It’s a 15+ year bourbon that they call an “ultra-premium, limited-edition expression.”

With Parker’s Heritage releases once a year, and now the upcoming Heaven Hill Heritage Collection, it’s hard to miss that they seem to be gearing up for a larger, more expanded line of limited expressions. These bottles are sure to be sought after, like many of the other limited lineups from Heaven Hill. But, it begs the question, are they gearing up to try and compete with Buffalo Trace’s antique collection?

Heaven hill having a staggered release for the collection makes a lot of sense from a marketing perspective. It allows Heaven Hill to keep the search hype up throughout the year. This keeps anticipation higher than the antique collection that only drops once per year.

It’s also hard not to notice the presentation and announcement come right on the heels of a late hunting season for Buffalo Trace Antique Collection. Many people were getting allocations later than typical, and their Stagg release was noticeably absent this year due to quality issues.

Now, the question is, will Heaven Hill add more to their lineups in the years to come in competition with the expansive BTAC line? Or, will they maintain with just two and keep them outside the BTAC hunting window so as not to directly compete? Only time will tell, but this is probably one of the most exciting allocated releases to be announced in a long while.

Especially since the 2022 release of Heaven Hill will be a 17-year bourbon, putting it right in line with some of the highest-aged bourbons around.