Whisky Producer Profile - Van Winkle

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(99.5 pctl)

$18.27 / pctl

Van Winkle | Est. 1935

Van Winkle Kentucky, USA Bourbon, Rye $1,819 Median Price

Part of the Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery Company family of brands.

Van Winkle Website

Overall, Van Winkle is known for:

Oak

(24)

Vanilla

(22)

Caramel

(16)

Cherry

(6)

Honey

(6)

Maple

(5)

Producer Overview

Van Winkle is the flagship brand of bourbon whiskey owned by the "Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery" company. It is distilled and bottled by the Sazerac Company at its Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, Kentucky. Pappy Van Winkle's Family Reserve is often regarded as one of the finest bourbons in the world, and can be extremely difficult to find due to its very low production and high demand. In 1893, when he was 18 years old, Julian "Pappy" Van Winkle Sr. began working as a salesman for the liquor wholesaler, W.L. Weller & Sons. Fifteen years later, he and another Weller salesman bought the firm. In 1910 they acquired the A. Ph. Stitzel Distillery in Louisville, Kentucky, which had started as a sour mash whiskey distillery in 1872. The Stitzel Distillery supplied much of the whiskey sold by the Weller wholesale firm. The consolidation coincided with prohibition, during which time the Stitzel-Weller firm was licensed by the government to produce whiskey for medicinal purposes. One of their labels that was introduced on the market just before prohibition was Old Rip Van Winkle. After prohibition, the brand was not reintroduced until after 1972 when the Stitzel-Weller distillery and its current brand names (including W. L. Weller, Old Fitzgerald, Rebel Yell, and Cabin Still) were sold to other companies. The only brand name the Van Winkle family had kept the rights to was the pre-prohibition brand Old Rip Van Winkle. The Stitzel-Weller Distillery was opened on the day of the Kentucky Derby in 1935, just outside Louisville in Shively, Kentucky. At the time of his death in 1965 at the age of 89, Pappy Van Winkle was the oldest active distiller in the nation. A photo of him lighting a cigar graces the bottle's label. Sometime after the Stitzel-Weller distillery was sold in 1972, Julian Van Winkle, Jr. resurrected the pre-prohibition Old Rip Van Winkle brand and initially used old whiskey stocks from the distillery for its bottlings. Julian Jr. died in 1981 and Julian Van Winkle, III (Pappy's grandson) took over the Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery company. After the initial sale in 1972, the Stitzel-Weller distillery was eventually closed completely in 1991. Since 2002, the Van Winkle brands have been distilled and bottled by the Sazerac Company at the Buffalo Trace Distillery as a joint venture with the Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery company. Read more...