Heaven Hill is one of Bourbon's biggest houses, producing its namesake bourbon, as well as labels such as Evan Williams, Elijah Craig, Old Fitzgerald, Henry McKenna and others.

For folks outside of the US, the Bourbon world may seem daunting with an endless supply of brands, that might make one think that the US is home to thousands of distilleries. Well, there might be hundreds of smaller craft distilleries, but when it comes to the most mainstream brands, there are only a handful of Bourbon houses that each produce a range of different brands, sometimes through the use of different recipes.

Most Bourbon distilleries are just a collection of storehouses around a main distillation plant and aren't particularly scenic. Nonetheless we're here for the juice. (Image Source: Heaven Hill Brands) 

For example, all American houses like Sazerac produces through its Buffalo Trace Distillery brands including Blanton's, W. L Weller, Eagle Rare, E. H. Taylor, George T. Stagg, and even the highly coveted Van Winkle.

And then you have foreign Bourbon houses like Campari that produces Wild Turkey and Russell's Reserve. Or Bourbon houses that were acquired by foreign multinationals such as Beam Suntory, which acquired Jim Beam, and so today produces Jim Beam, Maker's Mark, Basil Hayden, Booker's and Knob Creek.

You get the idea!

And so Heaven Hill is a big one and responsible from quite the handful of popular Bourbon names. Outside of the US, it is far less known because most Bourbon stays in the US, save for specific countries like Japan, which has had a longstanding relationship with America.

Thus it might be surprising to Americans the lack of awareness of what is otherwise known like the back of one's hand when it comes to Bourbon.

Hence, when I spotted this little plastic bottle of Heaven Hill... Vodka? Bearing in mind that I'm in Southeast Asia, it certainly piqued my curiosity.

Since when did Heaven Hill produce its own Vodka? A little digging informed me that this is actually quite available in the US in 1 Litre plastic tub bottles and are sometimes labelled under the banner "Quality House".

Even its label was intriguing given the ornate, fanciful, almost imperial looking design that strays far from Heaven Hill's brand identity of its Bourbons.

It should be said that whisky distilleries producing Vodka is not the most shocking as many young distilleries in particular do so in the early years to make ends meet while their first whiskies are done ageing. Gin is another popular product for young distilleries. Hence it's not a stretch for bigger distilleries to offer such alternative distilled products to cater to a wider variety of audience.

What we're probably more used to. (Image Source: Heaven House)

Information on it is fairly sparse, and you can't even find anything on Heaven Hill's site. But what I did gather from the label is that this Vodka is made from grain rather than the usual potatoes, which puts it at being slightly higher quality at least in base material.

For those unfamiliar with what Vodka is - I'll pull no punches - it is basically ethanol and water. While Vodka brands have sought to make themselves more likeable and easy to drink and have added flavours like vanilla or citrus to their Vodkas, at its core, Vodka is simply any grain or potato that's distilled and bottled.

Heaven Hill Vodka, 40% - Review

Tasting Notes

Colour: Clear, Thick Legs

Nose: Intense Nail Polish Remover

Taste: Surprisingly not as hot as you might have thought - vanilla, creamy, neutral alcohol. Quite an enjoyable texture actually.

Finish: Long, super satisfying warmth. It's not drying, very smooth with a really nice burn.

My Thoughts

For an unflavoured vodka, this was actually very tasty. The aromas would have you duped - it was pure nail polish remover, but on the palate it has this super satisfying creamy texture, the burn is not actually noticeable (it's only 40% after all!) and a super satisfying afterburn or warmth on the finish. 

This is actually super enjoyable - if I was on a snow mountain, I would definitely wish I had this in my pocket. That afterburn is just 👌🏻

Widely available in the US I'm told, but in Singapore or Malaysia, check out Cellarbration.

Kanpai!

@111hotpot