Heaven Hill had a night to remember on February 12 at The Brown Hotel in Louisville, walking away from the 2026 World Whiskies Awards America and Icons of Whisky America ceremony with more hardware than any other name in the room. For a company that has been quietly stacking wins for years, this latest round of recognition is starting to look less like luck and more like a system that simply works.
The awards, which recognize the best in American whiskey across categories ranging from production to sustainability to public relations, only hand out one winner per category. That makes what Heaven Hill pulled off even more impressive. By the end of the night, the Kentucky-based distillery had taken home multiple top honors and a pair of highly commended nods on top of that.
Heaven Hill was named Distiller of the Year for the third time in the Icons of Whisky America competition. What makes that number particularly striking is that two of those wins came back to back in 2023 and 2024, and now a third in 2026 suggests this is not a fluke. When a company keeps showing up at the top of a list like that, it says something about how the whole operation is being run, from the people on the floor to the decisions being made at the top.
The company also took home Sustainable Distillery of the Year for the second time, a win that speaks to something beyond just making good whiskey. Heaven Hill has put real effort into how it uses energy and water, and how it manages infrastructure in a way that does not just chase short-term production goals. Sustainability in the spirits industry often gets treated like a marketing badge, but repeat recognition in a competitive field suggests the work behind it is genuine.
On the public relations side, Lauren Cherry Newcomb and Kaitlynn Fish West were named the PR Team of the Year, a category that might not get as much attention from casual fans but matters enormously to a brand's long-term health. As the largest independent family owned and led distilled spirits company in the United States, Heaven Hill has a lot of stories worth telling, and those stories do not tell themselves. Getting the earned media side of the business right is part of what keeps a brand culturally alive, and this win puts a spotlight on two people doing exactly that.
Adam Ganoe, who serves as Distillery Manager, received a Highly Commended recognition, as did the production team over at Heaven Hill Springs Distillery. That second one is worth pausing on. Heaven Hill Springs Distillery has only been officially open for just under a year, which means earning any kind of recognition at this level in that short a timeframe is a meaningful early signal about where that facility is headed.
On the product side, the company also earned two category wins in the World Whiskies Awards America competition. Elijah Craig Toasted Rye took home Best American Rye Whiskey in the No Age Statement category. This comes on the heels of Elijah Craig Rye Barrel Proof being named Whisky of the Year by Whisky Advocate, so the brand is clearly on a roll in the rye space. The Toasted Rye stands out for its finishing process, which gives it a flavor profile that separates it from more straightforward rye expressions on the market.
The second product win went to the Heaven Hill Heritage Collection 19-Year-Old Kentucky Straight Wheat Whiskey, which claimed the category title for whiskeys aged between 13 and 20 years. A 19-year-old whiskey does not happen by accident. It requires the kind of long-range thinking that most companies struggle to sustain, holding back barrels for nearly two decades on the belief that the patience will eventually pay off. Heaven Hill has the aging inventory to pull that off, and this win is proof that the liquid backs up the vision.
Master Distiller Conor O'Driscoll put it plainly after the ceremony. "We're proud of these wins because they reflect both consistency and range," he said. "From premium, innovative rye to well-aged wheat whiskey, it speaks to the breadth of what our teams are capable of. These awards belong to the people who make the whiskey every day, and they reinforce the long-term mindset we bring to the work. We're building for today, and we're building for the next generation."
That last line is probably the most important thing said about any of this. The whiskey business rewards patience. Barrels do not rush. Wood and time do what they do on their own schedule, and the distillers who understand that tend to be the ones still standing decades down the road. Heaven Hill has been at this since 1935, and the wins piling up in 2026 suggest the next generation of the company is going to have a serious foundation to build on.
For the whiskey drinker who has been following American bourbon and rye for any length of time, none of this is entirely surprising. Heaven Hill has long been one of the most respected names in the industry, even if it does not always get the same flashy press as some of its competitors. The company runs a deep portfolio, produces at serious scale, and still manages to put out whiskeys that win head-to-head comparisons against everything else on the shelf.
The winners from the America round will now move on to compete for World's Best titles at the World Whiskies Awards Global Dinner scheduled for March. If the Louisville performance is any indication, Heaven Hill will be bringing the same approach it always does, showing up ready and letting the whiskey speak for itself.
