Parent Brand Profile - Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery Company
Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery Company
About
We are frequently asked why our whiskey is so hard to find. It’s difficult to put a finger on just one or two particular reasons, but here are a few things that have led to the popularity and scarcity of our whiskey. First, the whiskey is very good. When something is good, you naturally tell others about it. Word of mouth is priceless. In the early nineties we received a very high rating from the Chicago Beverage Testing Institute. That led to receiving many awards from tasting competitions by beverage magazines both here and abroad. Even celebrity chefs have touted our whiskey as being their favorite. That type of advertising is something we could never afford, but it has certainly contributed to our brand becoming a cult phenomenon. For that we are grateful. Another contributing factor was joining the Sazerac/Buffalo Trace family. This merger spread knowledge of our brand way beyond Kentucky and into other major markets. One last thing to know is that, unfortunately, some retailers choose to use this demand as a reason to increase their pricing. We know it’s often sold for far beyond our suggested retail prices, which you can find on the product pages of this site. We greatly appreciate all of our fans and your support. We hope that you have the chance to try some of our fine whiskey for yourself.
Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery Company Family of Whisk(e)y Brands
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What you smell and taste in a whisky is highly subjective.
Even the pros do not always agree on the tasting notes. Therefore, we have combined the tasting notes from several sources into a cross-section of the most likely Nose, Palate, and Finish to find the commonalities between two whiskies. We use the Aroma Wheel with its concentric circles of increasingly specific tastes and smells (general in the center; more specific the further out you go) to find Exact, Secondary, and General matches between two whiskies. We also take into account other factors such as ABV, region, and price (used as a rough proxy for quality). We then weight each factor based on what we believe to be the approximate importance it has in determining whether two whiskies are similar.
We're all different.
Again, we cannot stress enough that what you smell and taste in a whisky is likely going to be different than the person you're drinking it with. Whisky Mates is meant to be a guide to help you find what you like drinking, using the best methodologies available. In the end, rely on your own palate to tell you what you like and don't like.