Heaven Hill was founded by several investors shortly after the repeal of Prohibition in 1935, including a prominent distiller, Joseph L. Beam, and a member of the Shapira family. The distillery has remained family-run as descendants of the Shapira brothers own and operate the company today.
All of the Master Distillers at Heaven Hill since its founding have been members of the Beam family. Earl Beam was succeeded by the current Master Distillers, Parker Beam and his son, Craig Beam.
The original name was "Old Heavenhill Springs" distillery and was founded as a bourbon distillery, For most of its existence, it has concentrated on its flagship bourbon labels, Evan Williams and Elijah Craig.
On November 7, 1996, Heaven Hill's production plant was almost completely destroyed by a fire that started in an aging warehouse and spread to other buildings and vehicles. 90,000 barrels of flammable bourbon were lost.
The company survived the next several years through the provision of production capacity by its fellow local bourbon labels, Brown-Forman and Jim Beam, until its purchase and adaptation of the Bernheim distillery in Louisville from Diageo in 1999.
Heaven Hill has since greatly expanded their product base beyond bourbon to offer a wide variety of different products.
In 2004, the Heaven Hill Distilleries Bourbon Heritage Center was opened on the old distillery grounds, providing historical exhibits and guided tours of the plant. The company also hosts the annual Kentucky Bourbon Festival, and several of the company's brands are named after famous local distillers.
