As Heaven Hill Brands celebrates 85 years in business, we’re taking a look back at two foundational eras in our corporate history that have shaped and influenced where we are today.

The bridge period of the 1970s-1990s ushered in a transition from a solid foundation in bourbon and whiskey to broad diversification in the distilled spirits space. These changes were driven by consumer tastes and preferences, as well as the legacy of strong distribution relationships built from the prior years.

We sat down with President Max Shapira to talk about the forces that drove this evolution of the company and what those decisions signaled to the industry and customers about Heaven Hill’s long-term vision and focus.

You have described the 1970s-1990s as a bridge period for Heaven Hill. Why was this such a significant time in our history? 

The 1970s were more or less a dividing line between two distinctly different timeframes for the company. We were founded in 1935 and established as a producer of premium bourbon and whiskeys, and those were the sole products we had in our entire portfolio all the way to the middle to late 1960s. 

We had built that business with relationships established with distributors all over the country. They liked doing business with us, and they were successful in representing our brands. 

Somewhere along the early 60s or so, the industry began to change, as you had the competitive rise of other product categories, which were starting to eat into the American whiskey category. We started to see consumers move to some of these lighter-tasting beverages, like gin martinis and vodka-driven drinks. 

Around the mid-60s to early 70s, the outlook didn’t look so great for the American whiskey category. My dad and the family saw this and basically came to the conclusion that the company needed to look at other products to diversify what we were already doing. Those were the early days of the real transformation of the company, from being a one-trick pony to becoming a diversified producer and marketer of distilled spirits in a very expansive and broad way. 

What is the agency model, and how did our experience with it shape our long-term approach to diversification? 

There were a couple ways to acquire new brands – make a direct acquisition, represent brands on an agency basis or develop an internal innovation pipeline. There were many companies outside the U.S. that, for example, wanted to access the U.S. market for their brands. Over the course of the years, we represented brands like Lazzaroni (an Italian Amaretto) and Invergordon Distillers for some of their scotch brands. 

The problem with the agency model was that we didn’t own the brands. Sometimes those brands would be sold to another organization, for example, and we would lose the brands after spending a lot of time, effort and energy trying to build them. This type of expansion ultimately did not play a major role in our growth. 

Talk to us about the first significant acquisitions and what they helped signal to the industry and consumers about our long-term vision for growth of the company. 

We made our first acquisition in 1974, when we brought into our portfolio brands that were owned by the Grosscurth Distilling Company. That company had been in business for some time, and we had worked with the owners for a number of years. When he decided to retire, we struck an arrangement to acquire the original Aristocrat family of brands, which were already important brands in North Carolina and Virginia. 

This acquisition gave us some additional volume and access to some on-premise opportunities, ultimately resulting in increased production capacity. 

We made our first of many larger acquisitions beginning in 1989 with several brands from Joseph E. Seagrams, which included the Burnetts and Henry McKenna trademarks, among others. This acquisition was followed by a series of additional acquisitions, like Christian Brothers Brandy, which began to round out our portfolio. 

Meanwhile, we were investing in brands and facilities along the way. I think this demonstrated to not only the industry, but most importantly to our customers, that we were serious, long-term participants in the distilled spirits business with a growth perspective to everything that we do. It signaled our long-term focus on building our business well into the future.

Parker Beam joined the company in 1960. As we expanded our distilled spirits portfolio, how would you describe his impact and legacy as our master distiller? 

Parker came to the company in 1960 as an apprentice. He worked with his father, Earl Beam, an eminent master distiller, from whom he learned the trade. Earl was a task master and a real stickler for making sure that everything was done with 100% perfection. Parker became more than a bit of a perfectionist himself.

He was hugely instrumental over the course of his career here in developing the broad range of whiskeys that we produced – most importantly the production, aging and introduction of certain editions of our products, like small batches and single barrel expressions. He was an expert in how to age barrels in the right part of the warehouse and how to mingle the barrels to make sure our whiskeys tasted consistently outstanding. 

He was the person who helped us get started with Evan Williams Single Barrel, which won Whiskey of the Year with various publications many times. He had the ability to explain what makes a good bourbon and had an inimitable style that resonated with everybody. 

Parker was instrumental in lifting the whole Bourbon and American Whiskey category, and one might consider him to be hugely helpful in establishing the renaissance of Bourbon. Bottom line, his work lent a whole lot of dynamism and enhanced the level of rare, distinctive and out-of-the-ordinary products we could offer our consumers. 

As we celebrate 85 years in business, what are some things you would like team members to know about this time in our history? 

The 1970s to the 1990s was an important bridge period between the old Heaven Hill of one product and the new, multifaceted Heaven Hill. The company changed during this period of time rather dramatically, in terms of our production capabilities, our way of going to market with our brands, marketing, merchandising and promotional activities. Relationships we had established over many years became even closer.  

This approximately two-decade-timeframe was built on an expanded platform of brand strength, creativity, focus and long-term vision of how the company would continue to expand into the future.