Bernheim Distillery

In a city famous for small, historic bourbon houses, the Bernheim Distillery in Louisville, Kentucky stands apart simply by scale. It is the largest single-site Bourbon distillery in the United States, turning out roughly 1,300 barrels a day, and it is the birthplace of Bernheim Original Kentucky Straight Wheat Whiskey, the whiskey that reintroduced Americans to wheat as the dominant grain in a mash bill.

History & Heritage

The Bernheim name reaches back to 1872, when the Bernheim Brothers established a liquor dealership in Louisville. They built their first distillery on the site in 1897. That original operation passed to Schenley in 1937 as Prohibition-era and Depression-era consolidation reshaped the bourbon industry. The distillery standing on West Breckenridge Street today is a different, modern facility: it was opened in 1992 by United Distillers, which became Diageo in 1997 following a merger. Heaven Hill Brands acquired the Bernheim Distillery in 1999, and it has operated as Heaven Hill's production distillery ever since, with barreling and maturation carried out at Heaven Hill's campus in Bardstown, Kentucky.

The Whiskey

Bernheim runs nonstop, every hour of every day, built around eight silos, three hammer mills, mash tubs, mash coolers, and 17 fermenters, each holding 124,000 gallons, with fermentation cycles of four to six days. Distillation happens on three column stills, each 70 feet tall and 6 feet in diameter, installed as part of a 2017 expansion that pushed the distillery's annual capacity to 400,000 barrels. Every day, the process draws on Kentucky limestone water and a proprietary yeast strain that traces back to the end of Prohibition, brought to the site through the Jim Beam family, to produce about 73,000 gallons of new make whiskey, enough to fill roughly 1,500 barrels. The distillery produces essentially every major style of American whiskey across five or six signature mash bills (sources vary on the exact count).

Its signature release, Bernheim Original Kentucky Straight Wheat Whiskey, is aged seven years on a mash bill of 51 percent winter wheat, 37 percent corn, and 12 percent malted barley. When it launched in 2005, it was the first new style of American whiskey introduced since Prohibition, trading rye's spice for wheat's softer, bread-like sweetness. Bernheim Barrel Proof, a cask-strength expression aged seven to nine years, is released twice annually for those who appreciate good whiskey at full, undiluted strength.

Why It Matters

Bernheim Original did more than add a new label to Heaven Hill's lineup. It effectively created a modern category: American wheat whiskey, distinct from the wheated bourbons that use wheat as a secondary grain. The whiskey has collected a run of industry recognition, including a Double Gold Medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition in 2012 and again a Gold in 2017, Double Gold at the WSWA Spirits Tasting Competition in 2014, an Excellent Quality Accolade at the Ultimate Spirits Challenge in 2014, a Best American Wheat Whisky win at the World Whisky Awards in 2016, a Gold Editor's Choice Award from Whisky Magazine, Pioneer Whiskey of the Year from Malt Advocate Magazine, and a 94-point "Exceptional" rating from the Beverage Tasting Institute. The distillery itself, meanwhile, remains the physical engine behind a large share of Heaven Hill's broader portfolio, a reminder that a single Louisville facility can shape what "American whiskey" means well beyond bourbon's usual boundaries.

Visiting the Distillery

The Bernheim Distillery itself does not offer public tours, though Heaven Hill provides a 3D virtual tour online. Visitors wanting an in-person experience can tour the Heaven Hill Bourbon Experience and visitor center in Bardstown, Kentucky, where Bernheim's spirit is barreled and matured.