The Latest Drops from The Last Drop

James Espey and Tom Jago founded The Last Drop 15 years ago with a goal of finding casks of rare whiskies and other spirits and… Read More

James Espey and Tom Jago founded The Last Drop 15 years ago with a goal of finding casks of rare whiskies and other spirits and bottling them. Since then, the company has been sold to Sazerac and Tom’s daughter Rebecca is now in charge, but the goal remains the same: finding those unicorn whiskies that may have fallen through the cracks…or just don’t fit into someone else’s plans. We’ll talk with Rebecca Jago about The Last Drop’s 2024 Collection and the difficulty of sourcing those rare casks in today’s market on this week’s WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, labor problems hit Heaven Hill and Whyte & Mackay, while a longtime Highland distillery manager has retired. 

Episode 1056: May 12, 2024

Links: The Last Drop Distillers | Heaven Hill | United Food & Commercial Workers | Whyte & Mackay | GMB Scotland | Balblair | American Distilling Institute | Milam & Greene | Redbreast | Rosebank | Lochlea Distillery | Frey Ranch | Rare Hare Spirits | Royal Salute

Image courtesy The Last Drop Distillers.

Heaven Hill Strike Ends With New Contract

October 24, 2021 – Striking Heaven Hill workers are putting away their picket signs and preparing to return to work this week after ratifying a new five-year contract Saturday. 420 members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 23-D had been on strike since September 11 at Heaven Hill’s main maturation and bottling facilities in Bardstown, Kentucky. Both sides will now try to repair damaged relationships following the six-week strike, which led to at least one court hearing, a National Labor Relations Board complaint, and the beginnings of a social media-fueled boycott movement targeting Heaven Hill whiskies after the Read More »

October 24, 2021 – Striking Heaven Hill workers are putting away their picket signs and preparing to return to work this week after ratifying a new five-year contract Saturday. 420 members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 23-D had been on strike since September 11 at Heaven Hill’s main maturation and bottling facilities in Bardstown, Kentucky.

Both sides will now try to repair damaged relationships following the six-week strike, which led to at least one court hearing, a National Labor Relations Board complaint, and the beginnings of a social media-fueled boycott movement targeting Heaven Hill whiskies after the company declared an impasse last week and announced plans to hire replacement workers.

In a statement, UFCW Local 23-D president Matt Aubrey claimed a victory for his members. The union’s key goal was to prevent Heaven Hill from going to seven-day production with some workers assigned to shifts on Saturdays or Sundays, and the new contract maintains the current Monday-Friday work week while “defining more language on non-traditional scheduling,” as Aubrey indicated in a text message to WhiskyCast.

“This new Heaven Hill contract is a strong reminder of what is possible when Kentucky workers stand together to protect the good jobs that keep our economy growing and our communities and families strong. With the strong support of the Bardstown community, including many local businesses and community leaders, these hardworking men and women at Heaven Hill courageously stood up to fight for what all Kentucky families want – good jobs, affordable health care, and to be treated right by the company they made a success. Together, these hardworking Kentuckians preserved the affordable healthcare, overtime pay, and fair scheduling that enables them to balance work with supporting their families.”

Workers will receive a pay increase of up to $3.09 per hour over the five-year life of the contract, along with maintaining current required overtime hours. The contract also calls for additional company contributions to health insurance and 401(k) retirement plans, along with an increase in paid holidays and vacation benefits.

Heaven Hill executives issued a statement thanking union members for ratifying the new contract.

“We look forward to welcoming our team members as we transition back to normal operations. The agreement continues Heaven Hill’s long-standing commitment to its team members with industry-leading health care, wage growth and increased schedule flexibility.”

WhiskyCast has requested interviews with union leaders and Heaven Hill executives. This story will be updated with additional information as necessary.

Links: Heaven Hill | United Food & Commercial Workers

Tentative Agreement Reached in Heaven Hill Strike

October 22, 2021 – After nearly six weeks of picketing, accusations, and counter-accusations, a tentative agreement has been reached between Heaven Hill Distilleries and Local 23-D of the United Food and Commercial Workers union. Union members will vote on the five-year contract  tomorrow. The agreement followed Heaven Hill’s announcement earlier this week that it would begin hiring replacements for 420 striking workers after declaring an impasse in contract talks. In addition, there has been a growing backlash against the company on social media since that announcement with calls for a boycott of Heaven Hill’s brands, including the popular Evan Williams Read More »

October 22, 2021 – After nearly six weeks of picketing, accusations, and counter-accusations, a tentative agreement has been reached between Heaven Hill Distilleries and Local 23-D of the United Food and Commercial Workers union. Union members will vote on the five-year contract  tomorrow. The agreement followed Heaven Hill’s announcement earlier this week that it would begin hiring replacements for 420 striking workers after declaring an impasse in contract talks. In addition, there has been a growing backlash against the company on social media since that announcement with calls for a boycott of Heaven Hill’s brands, including the popular Evan Williams and Elijah Craig bourbons.

While specifics of the contract have not been publicly released ahead of the ratification vote, Heaven Hill’s statement indicated that it “continues Heaven Hill’s long-standing commitment to its team members with industry-leading health care, wage growth and increased schedule flexibility.” Reading between the lines, that indicates that Heaven Hill may have achieved its goal of expanding production to seven days a week at its main maturation and bottling facilities in Bardstown, Kentucky. 

Union negotiators had fought strongly against the proposal to add weekend shifts to what has traditionally been a Monday-Friday work week, and 96 percent of the striking workers voted against the company’s final offer before the strike began on September 11.

However, the Local 23-D executive committee unanimously recommended today that its members approve the new contract. In a statement issued by the UFCW, Local 23-D president Matt Aubrey thanked local residents who supported the striking workers.

“UFCW Local 23D has reached a fully recommended tentative agreement with Heaven Hill on a five-year contract. With the strong support of the Bardstown community, these hardworking men and women have been standing together for more than a month to protect these good Kentucky jobs that their families have counted on for generations. Heaven Hill workers will make their voices heard tomorrow when they vote on this tentative agreement.”

WhiskyCast has requested interviews with union leaders and Heaven Hill executives. This story will be updated with additional information.

Links: Heaven Hill | United Food & Commercial Workers

 

Heaven Hill Workers on Strike

By Mark Gillespie September 11, 2021 – With the biggest weekend of the year in the “Bourbon Capital of the World” just a few days away, visitors  to Bardstown, Kentucky for the Kentucky Bourbon Festival may be greeted with picket signs at the town’s newest attraction. Heaven Hill workers started a strike today after their five-year contract expired at midnight and are staffing a picket line outside the Heaven Hill Bourbon Experience, which opened this summer after a two-year renovation and upgrade project. Members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 23-D voted overwhelmingly in favor of the strike Read More »

By Mark Gillespie

September 11, 2021 – With the biggest weekend of the year in the “Bourbon Capital of the World” just a few days away, visitors  to Bardstown, Kentucky for the Kentucky Bourbon Festival may be greeted with picket signs at the town’s newest attraction. Heaven Hill workers started a strike today after their five-year contract expired at midnight and are staffing a picket line outside the Heaven Hill Bourbon Experience, which opened this summer after a two-year renovation and upgrade project.

Members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 23-D voted overwhelmingly in favor of the strike Thursday night, according to Louisville television station WDRB. The local represents 420 production workers at Heaven Hill’s main campus in Bardstown and its maturation warehouses around Nelson County, and also represents workers at Barton 1792 Distillery and the Four Roses maturation and bottling facility in Cox’s Creek. Workers at the Heaven Hill Bourbon Experience visitors center are not represented by the union.

Union leaders are upset with what they claim is a proposal to change work shifts to create a “non-traditional” work schedule that includes Saturdays and Sundays, instead of the current Monday-Friday schedule for all production workers. “They feel that rather than working to live, they’re trying to implement things to make them live to work,” Local 23-D president Matt Aubrey told WhiskyCast in a telephone interview. “They’re family-owned and ‘hey, we want to treat everyone like family,’ they’re not treating these members like family…all these members out here, they have a family, they have sons and daughters, grandchildren…they have loved ones that if what the company wants to preserve and what it wants to push, it’s gonna take these members away from their family,” he said.

In 2016, workers were divided on whether to accept the contract that expired last night. That deal included $7,250 in bonuses for each worker over the length of the contract along with annual pay raises in the final three years, and 66% of those voting cast ballots to accept the new deal. According to union leaders, 96 percent of those voting Thursday night supported going on strike as soon as the contract expired.

Heaven Hill executives were not available for interviews, but shared this statement with WhiskyCast.

“Thursday evening, the membership of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 23-D failed to ratify a new five-year contract with Heaven Hill. Since the company was founded, the support of our employees has been a source of pride and we have had productive conversations with the union for several months now regarding components of the contract. We will continue to collaborate with UFCW leadership toward passage of this top-of-class workforce package.”

The strike will also affect Heaven Hill’s participation in the Kentucky Bourbon Festival, which gets underway this Thursday. Festival officials have confirmed that Heaven Hill will not be taking part in tastings and other events during the festival, including the World Championship Bourbon Barrel Relay competition in which the distillery’s teams have dominated in recent years. Aubrey told WhiskyCast his members will not be allowed to carry picket signs anywhere other than at Heaven Hill facilities represented by Local 23-D, including the Bardstown campus and nearby maturation warehouses. However, they can wear t-shirts promoting their support for the strike in public – including at the Festival grounds around Spalding Hall in Bardstown.

The walkout will primarily affect Heaven Hill’s Bardstown-based bottling and maturation operations. Workers at Heaven Hill’s Bernheim Distillery in Louisville are represented by a different UFCW chapter, and spirits distilled at Bernheim are trucked to Bardstown to be filled into barrels before being placed in one of the company’s warehouses for maturation. Heaven Hill has not indicated whether production at Bernheim will be stopped or slowed down during the strike.

The last strike affecting a major Kentucky distiller came in September of 2018 when Four Roses workers walked out for two weeks over the company’s plans to create a different benefits package for new employees. That dispute ended when the company agreed to allow all employees to choose between the current sick leave policy or sign up for short-term disability insurance that takes effect after an employee uses 10 sick days in a year.

Aubrey also denied reports on social media suggesting that a strike is also coming at Sazerac’s Barton 1792 Distillery in Bardstown, noting that the union’s contract at 1792 Barton does not expire until 2024.

This story will be updated with additional information as it becomes available.

Editor’s note: This story was updated with additional information following an interview with UFCW Local 23-D president Matt Aubrey. In addition, we have clarified where Local 23-D members are allowed to picket to include the company’s maturation warehouse sites where union members work.

Links: Heaven Hill | United Food & Commercial Workers