The Ultimate Guide to Heaven Hill’s Mash Bills
Heaven Hill is one of America’s largest whiskey producers, and the family-owned company has some eye-popping production numbers by any measure. In 2023, the brand filled its 10-millionth barrel of whiskey, and production doesn’t seem to be slowing anytime soon. In fact, Heaven Hill is on a path to potentially double its output in the coming years.
The Bernheim Distillery in Louisville — which Heaven Hill acquired in 1999, a few years after a fire destroyed its main Bardstown facility — can produce 450,000 barrels of whiskey per year. And the new Heaven Hill Springs Distillery in Bardstown can potentially double that capacity, though operations there will start with just 150,000 barrels annually.
Fortunately for current and aspiring whiskey nerds, Heaven Hill is also among the most transparent major producers when it comes to the recipes (commonly known as grain bills or mash bills) that form the bases for its products. The vast majority of Heaven Hill’s production is spread across six main categories of whiskey, each with its own unique mash bill.
Bourbon: 78 percent corn, 12 percent malted barley, 10 percent rye (often referred to as “Heaven Hill Regular” or “HH Reg”)
Wheated Bourbon: 68 percent corn, 20 percent wheat, 12 percent malted barley
Rye: 51 percent rye, 35 percent corn, 14 percent malted barley
Corn Whiskey: 80 percent corn, 12 percent malted barley, 8 percent rye
Wheat Whiskey: 51 percent wheat, 37 percent corn, 12 percent malted barley
Malt Whiskey: Varies, but previously several mash bills between 51 and 65 percent malted barley, with corn as a second grain. In recent years, the company has begun phasing this out in favor of a single malt (100 percent malted barley) mash bill.
Others: Heaven Hill produced over a dozen different mash bills in 2024, including newer recipes for its “Grain to Glass” series and future innovation.
Like most major producers, Heaven Hill frequently experiments with new recipes, distillation techniques, and aging environments; each year, a small percentage of products are produced outside the above parameters. (More on those below.)
Below, we break down each of the six main whiskeys Heaven Hill produces, including the products and labels most commonly associated with each. To help, we tapped Conor O’Driscoll, Heaven Hill’s master distiller since 2019, for insight into the production processes for each, along with details about some more uncommon mash bills the company is currently distilling and aging. The recipes below are ranked in approximate order, from the largest to the smallest annual volume produced.
Bourbon (‘Heaven Hill Regular’ or ‘HH Reg’)
Mash Bill: 78 percent corn, 12 percent malted barley, 10 percent rye
Product Lines: Evan Williams bourbons, Elijah Craig bourbons, Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond, Henry McKenna bourbons
By far Heaven Hill’s most well-known whiskey, this 78 percent corn mash bill has been the company’s standard since its founding in 1935. Known in bourbon circles as “HH Reg,” this is a three-grain bourbon with a relatively low-rye mash bill, but with enough of that grain to still impart some hallmark spiciness. It’s also the company’s volume workhorse, accounting for an estimated 85 percent of all whiskey Heaven Hill produces.
HH Reg is currently the only whiskey produced at the new Heaven Hill Springs facility in Bardstown, Ky., which O’Driscoll says can free up capacity at the Bernheim distillery for more innovation down the road. According to O’Driscoll, because HH Reg is now produced across two different distilleries, the company may someday release different bottled-in-bond lines, as each BiB label must include the originating distillery’s unique DSP number. (As production increases, Heaven Hill Springs will also begin to distill the other five main whiskey types.)
O’Driscoll praises HH Reg for its “versatility and flexibility,” producing a whiskey that can take on varying character depending on factors like age and aging environment. And over the decades, it’s produced some undeniable hits, from the near-ubiquitous Evan Williams lineup to the Elijah Craig series, including the popular Barrel Proof expression. It’s also a mash bill known for its capacity to age well even past its second decade, leading to a variety of rare and celebrated releases including Evan Williams 23 Year old.
Wheated Bourbon
Mash Bill: 68 percent corn, 20 percent wheat, 12 percent malted barley
Product Lines: Old Fitzgerald, Larceny
The second and third spots on this list may shift with any given year. Wheated bourbon and rye each make up between 7 and 10 percent of production capacity each year, according to O’Driscoll. But often, Heaven Hill’s second most-produced mash bill is this famed wheated bourbon recipe, internally referred to as “OFD.” Instead of rye, this particular recipe uses wheat as the secondary (or flavoring) grain, dropping the percentage of corn down slightly to 68 percent.
This recipe for “wheaters” (to use some unofficial slang) is the basis for the Old Fitzgerald Decanter Series, a bottled-in-bond expression released twice per year at various age statements. It’s also the same distillate that goes into the Old Fitzgerald line’s newer (and more accessible) 7 year bottled-in-bond expression.
Additionally, this wheated mash bill can also become the Larceny line of bourbons, including both Small Batch and Larceny Barrel Proof.
Rye
Mash Bill: 51 percent rye, 35 percent corn, 14 percent malted barley
Product Lines: Rittenhouse Rye, Pikesville Rye, Elijah Craig Rye
In any given year, rye whiskey may overtake wheated bourbon as Heaven Hill’s second most-produced whiskey, with a 7 to 10 percent total share. This particular rye recipe contains the legally mandated minimum percentage of its namesake grain. Such “low-rye ryes” (say that five times fast) are often referred to as “Kentucky style” because of their high corn content and flavor profiles that can trend similarly to bourbon. This low-rye recipe forms the basis of nearly all Heaven Hill rye whiskeys — with a few exceptions we’ll discuss below.
Corn Whiskey
Mash Bill: 80 percent corn, 12 percent malted barley, 8 percent rye
Product Lines: Mellow Corn, some speciality releases
It’s almost impossible to talk about American corn whiskey without discussing Mellow Corn. Indeed, according to O’Driscoll, most of the company’s production of this whiskey type is to support Mellow Corn. Heaven Hill produces corn whiskey between eight and 10 days per year in total.
In contrast to bourbon, rye, and wheat whiskeys, with their 51 percent grain requirements, corn whiskey must contain a minimum of 80 percent corn in its mash bill, according to federal law. Additionally, corn whiskey can only be aged in used or uncharred new oak barrels, usually leading to a noticeably milder — “mellow” — profile than its cousins.
In addition to standard Mellow Corn, Heaven Hill has also utilized well-aged corn whiskey distillate in some special products, including a 20-year straight corn whiskey as the 2023 release in Heaven Hill Heritage Collection.
Wheat Whiskey
Mash Bill: 51 percent wheat, 37 percent corn, 12 percent malted barley
Product Lines: Bernheim Wheat Whiskey, some speciality releases
Wheat whiskey seems to be gaining traction in 2025 and beyond, with a number of distilleries releasing limited bottlings of this oft-forgotten (and underrated) distillate type. But wheat whiskey has been a longtime staple in Heaven Hill’s arsenal. This particular recipe — again, just at the minimum legal threshold for wheat percentage — is the basis for the Bernheim line of whiskeys, including Small Batch and Barrel Proof offerings. It’s also one of the least common of Heaven Hill’s “normal” mash bills, and the company normally produces wheat whiskey for just one or two production days per year. (As O’Driscoll explains, this often occurs across several production half-days.)
In early 2025, Heaven Hill released a 19 year-old wheat whiskey as part of the Heaven Hill Heritage Collection. To our knowledge, it’s the oldest age-stated wheat whiskey ever released in the American market.
Malt Whiskey
Mash Bill: 65 percent malted barley, 35 percent corn (previous production, exact percentages varied); 100 percent malted barley (currently)
Product Lines: Some Parker’s Heritage Collection and Heaven Hill Select Stock releases
Heaven Hill produces malt whiskey just one day per year, though given the company’s massive production capabilities, that still results in between 700 and 800 barrels annually. Years ago, Heaven Hill began experimenting with Kentucky straight malt distillate. Unlike single malt — which must only contain malted barley for grain — these “Kentucky malt” recipes generally contained between 51 and 65 percent malted barley, with the remainder of the mash bill coming from other grains, most often corn. These malt whiskeys were most famously used in a number of Parker’s Heritage releases, including the 2024 bottling that underwent additional aging in Cognac casks.
O’Driscoll says it’s been around a decade since Heaven Hill regularly ran those Kentucky malts. For the past three years, the company has shifted toward a single malt whiskey, containing only malted barley in the mash bill. This was largely in anticipation of American single malt receiving designation as an official spirits category, a milestone announced in late 2024 and codified in early 2025. While it’s too early to tell which sorts of products and labels Heaven Hill may develop around its single malt, O’Driscoll says the company is currently aging half this distillate in new charred oak containers, and half in used barrels. Currently, there’s no definitive timeline for Heaven Hill to bring its single malt to market. O’Driscoll emphasizes the company’s plans to let the whiskey’s aging speak for itself.
Other Mash Bills
Product Lines: Heaven Hill Grain to Glass, Parker’s Heritage, Heaven Hill Select Stock
While the six mash bills listed above form the bulk of Heaven Hill’s production, O’Driscoll says the company distilled a total of 14 different mash bills in 2024. Of these, some are experiments, including Heaven Hill’s own take on the popular 95 percent rye mash bill popularized by Indiana’s MGP. The company has run that particular recipe twice, generally tacked on at the end of a week of its normal rye production.
Others include speciality releases like Heaven Hill Grain to Glass, which annually highlights a specific grain varietal across a number of whiskey types and expressions. The 2025 release of Grain to Glass Bourbon, for example, was made from a mash bill of 52 percent corn, 35 percent rye, and 13 percent malted barley; the corn varietal used was Beck’s 6225. The Wheated Bourbon and Rye expressions in the Grain to Glass series also utilize mash bills that differ from Heaven Hill’s standard six.
With over 2 million barrels of aging distillate, Heaven Hill has plenty of levers to pull when it comes to continuing popular products or developing new ones. And while factors like yeast, fermentation time, age, maturation environment, and cask type play critical roles, it all starts with the mash bill.
*Photo retrieved from An-T via stock.adobe.com
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