Black Velvet Whisky is a Canadian whisky brand owned by Heaven Hill and produced in the Black Velvet Distillery in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.
Black Velvet was originally produced at Schenley Industries in Valleyfield, Quebec, Canada. Schenley's Black Velvet DeLuxe was the only liquor available to submarine officers at Midway in World War II, where it was held in low regard and known as "Schenley's Black Death".[1] Original owner Heublein was sold to Grand Metropolitan in 1987. Grand Metropolitan and Guinness merged in 1997 to form Diageo.
In 1999 the distillery was sold by Diageo to Canandaigua Brands. They owned the distillery and brand for 20 years before selling them, along with an inventory of maturing whisky, to Heaven Hill for $266 million (USD).[2]