Annual Parker's Heritage due in September

In most instances, the longer a whiskey ages in wood the better it gets. (Exceptions would be those not well made in the first place.) Two or three years is common, eight is premium, and so on. The 10th annual release of Heaven Hill's Parker’s Heritage Collection is an exception -- on the upside.

The bourbon is named to honor Parker Beam, the distillery’s master distiller emeritus who has been suffering from ALS -- Lou Gherig's disease -- for a number of years. The Heritage Collection is used to raise money for research and patient care for the disease.

The 2016 edition is a 24-year-old, bottled-in-bond bourbon. It features two separate versions, expected to be the oldest bottled-in-bond in the world, according to Heaven Hill. It was produced in the fall of 1990 and spring of 1991 at the Bardstown, KY, distillery that burned down in 1996 along with seven rickhouses and more than 90,000 barrels.

The liquid is bottled by season to retain its bottled-in-bond designation. By federal law, to be labeled bottled-in-bond or bonded, the liquor must be the product of one distillation season (January to December) and one distiller at one distillery, then aged in a federally bonded warehouse at 100 proof (50% abv) for at least four years.

This edition, packaged in the same upscale 750ml bottle as the previous editions, will be released in September and carry a suggested retail price of $250, with $15 of each sale going towards the ALS campaign.

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