Spirits · Bardstown, Kentucky
H. McKenna Distillery
A Kentucky bourbon name dating to 1855, now made by Heaven Hill in Bardstown.
- Founded
- 1855
- Founded by
- Henry McKenna
- Based in
- Bardstown, Kentucky
Making it since
1855
Their story
Henry McKenna was born in Ireland in 1819 and settled in Kentucky in 1838. He ran a flour mill in Fairfield before opening a small distillery there in 1855, and his whiskey earned a strong local reputation. After his death in 1893, his sons James, Daniel, and Stafford kept the business going.
Prohibition shut the distillery, though the family's aging stocks were bottled as medicinal whiskey. In 1941 the family sold the brand and distillery to Seagram, and in the early 1980s Heaven Hill bought the U.S. rights. Today Henry McKenna bourbon is made by Heaven Hill in Bardstown.
How it's made
Heaven Hill produces Henry McKenna as a Kentucky straight bourbon in Bardstown. Its best-known bottling is a 10 year old single barrel, bottled in bond, which Heaven Hill introduced in 1995.
Why we carry them
The 10 year single barrel is one of the best values in bourbon, and we like pointing whiskey fans to it.
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