Over these past 85 years, Heaven Hill has always strived to be good stewards of the natural resources used to create our products.  

In January 2021 Heaven Hill announced a four-part Environmental Sustainability Strategy to address pressing environmental challenges within the industry and local communities. The areas of focus include water, emissions, waste and conservation. Specifically, we are working to conserve the ecosystems that support our business – and that includes supporting a sustainable supply of white oak.

A new blog post from Heaven Hill Distillery focuses on Heaven Hill’s partnership with one of its cooperages, Independent Stave Company, to promote sustainability through logger certification. The blog is part of broader content marketing efforts for the Heaven Hill Distillery line of whiskeys and Bourbons. 

Check out the excerpt below, and read the full blog post here. 

Logging has always been a business that requires looking ahead. Loggers’ livelihoods depend on trees that were seeded decades ago, and the decisions they make today will impact generations to come.

It’s the same for those in the Bourbon business. As any fan knows, by law Bourbon must be aged in new, charred oak barrels. What fans may not realize is that the barrels we use today started as acorns when we were distilling our first batches.  

“As stewards of American Whiskey, it is Heaven Hill’s job to make sure we are always planning,” says Susan Wahl, vice president of American Whiskeys at Heaven Hill Distillery. “To make sure there is good quality American Whiskey available for consumers for years to come.”

Start at the Source

Earlier in the year, Heaven Hill sat down with one of our cooperages, Independent Stave Company (ISC) of Lebanon, Ky., to discuss developing our white oak sustainability program. 

“Heaven Hill wanted a program that was really going to have an impact on the industry, something that was real,” says Jason Stout, vice president of business development and marketing for ISC. “I said, ‘Why don’t we go to the frontline?’ You know, right there where it’s happening—and that’s with the loggers. They really manage the relationship with the landowners.” 

According to Stout, 90 percent of the oak that they use comes from private landowners. That’s thousands of landowners in the Eastern hardwood region. Loggers not only have the closest relationships with these landowners, they also help them make key decisions, such as what trees to harvest and how to harvest them. 

While there is no required certification process to become a logger, there are state associations offering voluntary training programs, such as the Master Logger Program. For Heaven Hill and ISC, this was a perfect opportunity for the sustainability program. By providing funding, we could offer loggers the opportunity to attend training with all costs covered. 

We believe that education is a core tenet for everything we do at Heaven Hill. And we knew that by investing in loggers’ education, we could have a positive impact on not only their family-owned businesses, but also on the health of the forest. And to make sure we were supporting the communities that help support us, we decided to sponsor loggers across several states, specifically those that supply the wood for our Bourbon barrels. 

“The program that we have developed with Independent Stave Company, we’re really providing almost like a scholarship opportunity, giving people the opportunity to go to their state certification program to learn about sustainable logging practices,” says Wahl. “We know that if we can educate loggers on these practices, then we’re going to have a healthier forest and healthier white oak—for Bourbon and for many other industries, as well.”