08/21/2026
Compass Wines is celebrating our 25th anniversary this summer.
To commemorate this milestone, we have worked with Heaven Hill distillery to bottle a truly memorable bourbon.
One of the most fascinating aspects of the bourbon world, is how distilleries produce their most famous brands.
Just like the other big producers, Heaven Hill makes a massive amount of bourbon, released under various brand names, including their marquis labels. Buffalo Trace has “Pappy VanWinkle”, Brown Forman has “Old Forester Birthday Bourbon”, Jim Beam has “Booker’s”, and Heaven Hill has “Old Fitzgerald”.
The process for all of these distilleries is to produce thousands of barrels of bourbon of various different mash bills (blends of grains), then age them in various facilities for years, or even decades, prior to blending and bottling. The distillery then selects specific barrels, often with specific mash bills, to blend together for the different brands they produce.
In the case of Heaven Hill, they use a high percentage of corn and 20% wheat in the mash bill for their legendary Old Fitzgerald Decanter series, age it for somewhere between 8 and 19 years, then bottle it at 100 proof. Coincidentally, Pappy VanWinkle also reportedly has a mash bill with around 20% wheat and a similar high percentage of corn.
Heaven Hill has a lesser-known brand ‘Larceny’, which is marketed as a sub brand of ‘Old Fitzgerald’ and part of the “Legacy of Old Fitzgerald”. Basically, these are barrels ‘stolen’ from the stocks intended for ‘Old Fitzgerald’ (note the name ‘Larceny’), bottled a bit younger and usually at a lower proof.
The value here is amazing.
We actually got ahold of one of these barrels, which is also old enough to be used in ‘Old Fitz’ (8 year old) and had it bottled at a cask strength of 64.45% ABV, instead of watered back to 100 proof.
This is textbook, top of the line, ultra limited production bourbon at its finest. Rich and decadent, a total of only 228 bottles came from this single barrel. The value on this bottle is insane.
