A common distillery milestone is when a certain and number of barrels have been filled with whiskey. If truly significant figure, operators celebrate it by calling out the press for photo ops and quotes from owners who mine memories of the Herculean exertions and mounds of money invested to arrive at that point. Somewhat ironically, all are simple affairs centered on a single pristine 53-gallon cask getting its first and last moment in the spotlight.

A year-and-a-half ago, Heaven Hill filled its 10 millionth barrel of whiskey, but some might make the case that filling its first barrel at Heaven Hill Springs Distillery (DSP Ky-31) in Bardstown, Ky., on April 7, was more important. That occasion marked the end of the company's 28-year-long distilling drought in the town where the company was founded nine decades ago.

The drought began on Nov. 7, 1996, when the original Heaven Hill Springs Distillery and seven of rickhouses were destroyed by a fire. Max Shapira, who was 53 at the time, became president of Heaven Hill just six months before the conflagration occurred. Now he was steering a company entrusted to him by its cofounders–his father and four uncles, no less—toward an uncertain future without a distillery and amid a 30-year slump in American whiskey sales.

On April 7, however, positioned at a podium in the glass-walled, sun-splashed still room, Shapira was all grins and congrats, praising the team who created the company's brand-new $200 million whiskey plant where the first fill would take place. Over his left shoulder stood a 70-foot-tall, copper-clad column still likely idled for the occasion because such steam injected beasts hiss louder than a hoarse dragon. Directly to his left was a spirits try box (a.k.a. spirits safe) through which new make whiskey coursed within the glass tubing of a prominent HH logo. The unique stainless steel and glass fixture marked the latest salvo in what appears to be an unofficial industry competition to create the coolest of these necessary but now decorative fixtures.

Applying the appropriate balance of glee and gravitas to the occasion, Shapira, as is his custom, credited his family and generations of Heaven Hill employees for the company's incredible achievements over 90 years in operation.  

“We wouldn’t even be here (without) my dad had his brothers being asked to be involved in a new enterprise” in 1934, Shapira said. Recalling how a handful industry veterans–eager to ply their trade after a 13-year layoff due to Prohibition–approached his father, Ed Shapira, to ask, “Would you and your family like to be a part of this? (My family) didn’t know anything about the whiskey business. ... We liked to joke that they didn't know a barrel from a box.

“But through sound judgment, listening to various individuals, and looking at the future, we were able to overcome all these things. And today, we have approximately 2 million barrels of whiskey aging in our facilities. That represents somewhere in the range of 12 to 15 percent of all the world's supply” of American whiskey.

The company’s co-president, Allan Latts, also Shapira's son-in-law, called the facility the cornerstone of the company’s long-term vision, which includes keeping Heaven Hill an independent, family owned entity. That vision includes a gradual expansion of the distillery’s capacity from filling 150,000 barrels of whiskey annually to 450,000 following the addition of two more stills. (FWIW, Heaven Hill’s Bernheim plant has three stills identical to that at Heaven Hill Springs, which pump out 450,000 barrels a year.)

“That's a lot of whiskey, and that really speaks to our confidence in the strength of the spirits industry and in Heaven Hill’s continued role in it,” Latts said. Adding that the distillery is a shining example of HH’s 2030 environmental sustainability strategy, he continued: “We've incorporated … advanced water and reuse wastewater treatment systems and smart storm water management, habitat restoration and on-site energy generation recovery to power our sustainability efforts. This isn't just the state-of-the-art facility, it's a blueprint for how distilling should be done responsibly.”

Conor O’Driscoll, master distiller at Heaven Hill, said staffers called the distillery Project Phoenix as a nod to the company’s recovery and growth since the tragic fire.

“It's more than the state-of-the-art facility, more than a place to make whiskey,” O’Driscoll said. “It is a symbol of bold thinking and believing, inspired by our legacy, driven by sustainability, and it's designed for the future. It reflects not only where we've come from, but where we are going.”

And, just like nearly all barrels-filled celebrations, this one concluded similarly: a whiskey toast for all in attendance (maybe 100 people at this one), grip-and-grin and team photo ops for anyone holding a camera (which is everyone these days), and the silent implication that the party's over since the whiskey won't make itself and they have to turn the still back on.