Special and Rare – High End Bourbon Ken Gargett

Premium BOURBONS

Quick quiz: Front row tickets, opening night, for Springsteen at the Meadowlands or a bottle of Pappy van Winkle bourbon - which is harder to get?

The Pappy, by the proverbial country mile. In fact, there is almost no bottle of wine, spirit or champagne on this planet harder to get on release. You might even have more chance of a bottle of DRC Romanée-Conti, and the prices are not that different – they have been resold for up to $20,000. It is said that Pope Francis gets a single bottle of Pappy every year. But only one.

For anyone who has not experienced them, be under no illusion that spirits such as bourbon and Tennessee rye can be of superb quality, not to mention seriously expensive and in extraordinary demand. Nothing, however, comes close to the clamour that the suggestion of an available bottle of Pappy van Winkle creates. Every bottle could be sold one hundred times over, despite the price. No wonder that there have been faked bottles. Pappy is released on a set day – Pappy Day – and in some American states is sold by lottery. Fans from thousands of miles away will take their chances. People have been known to be on retail waiting lists for more than a decade before they get a single bottle. Very often, those successful sell their loot to aficionados for many times the original price.

Pappy van Winkle’s Family Reserve Bourbon is the flagship from the ‘Old Rip van Winkle Distillery’, but is distilled and bottled at the Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfurt, Kentucky by the Sazerac Company. There are a number of different aged Pappy’s, including 15, 20 and 23-Years-Old.

Pappy, as it is commonly known, dates back to 1893 when 18-year-old Julian van Winkle Snr (who would become known as Pappy) took a job as a salesman with the liquor wholesaler, W. L. Weller & Sons. Eventually, he acquired a part interest in the business and then, in 1910, purchased the Stitzel Distillery in Louisville, Kentucky. Prohibition limited production to ‘medicinal purposes’, but just before it was implemented, they introduced the ‘Old Rip Van

Winkle’ label. Though it did not last. It was not until 1972 that the label was reintroduced when the distillery and various brands were sold – this had been the only label to which the family retained the rights from the sales.

When Pappy passed away in 1965 he was 91, and the nation’s oldest active distiller. It was Pappy’s son who had reintroduced the brand. After his death in 1981, Pappy’s grandson, Julian Van Winkle III, took over (his greatgrandson, Preston, has also joined the business since). In 2002, a joint venture was entered for the Sazerac Company to distil and bottle the van Winkle brands at the Buffalo Trace Distillery. An issue for the company is that the old stocks from the Stitzel-Weller distillery are almost exhausted, but they are continuing production. This seems to have made no dent in demand.

Production estimates vary, and there are quotes from 6,000 bottles to 84,000 bottles – take your pick, though the higher estimate seems likely to be the most accurate. Whatever the amount, why not an increase in production? (There are rumours that the current output will be expanded by a small quantity by 2025, but there are more rumours about this bourbon than almost any other spirit). Aside from potentially damaging ‘the magic’, Julian van Winkle III has expressed concerns that should tastes, or circumstances change, they may be left with large quantities of unsaleable bourbon. That seems overly cautious, given the extraordinary demand for this bourbon, and one wonders how much of maintaining a tiny production is designed to maintain the mystique.

This cult adoration of Pappy has only been around since 1996, when the Chicago Beverage Testing Institute rated the 20-year-old at 99 out of 100, the highest score ever awarded. The bottle was submitted by one of their salesmen, and it is rumoured that it was just as well, as the family was suffering financially at the time. Part of the myth also stems from the fact that before these mature bourbons were released, it was rare to find any bourbons aged for over 12 years. It would be easy to focus solely on this legendary bourbon when looking at the best of the best, but it is far from the only prestige release and more than a few of them emerge from the Buffalo Trace Distillery.

As mentioned, Pappy van Winkle joined the firm of W. L. Weller, and that gentleman himself is commemorated in the flagship, William Larue Weller Antique Bourbon. Weller developed his original recipe for bourbon by using wheat, not rye, in the mash bill (wheat being the secondary grain, behind the traditional corn), believing it leads to a smoother, more gentle taste. Pappy is also a wheat, not rye, adherent. While there are several bourbons in his name, the Antique is the pinnacle. Uncut, unfiltered, hand-bottled and barrel proof (and with a price to match), the Antique comes from the specially selected 145 best barrels. It comes in at an impressive 67.7 per cent ABV, although this varies from year to year. This whiskey was first introduced in 2005.

The Thomas H. Handy Sazerac is an annual release which was designed to meet the consumer demand for aged, barrel strength whiskey. It will vary from year to year, but the distillery does put out an admirable amount of information. The latest came from a select 72 barrels, was 127.2 proof and a whopping 27.2 per cent of the original blend was lost to evaporation while it was ageing. Handy was the bartender who first use rye whiskey in a Sazerac cocktail. Another prestige bourbon, again extremely limited and priced to sit alongside the great cognacs and malts, is the Eagle Rare 17-YearOld 2017. Again from the Buffalo Trace Distillery, it is aged for at least a decade and has been highly awarded in competitions around the globe.

And then we have the Sazerac Rye 18 Year-Old. The Sazerac Coffee House in New Orleans was founded in 1850 and is considered to be the home of America’s first cocktail, not surprisingly named the Sazerac. This whiskey comes from a special 25 barrels, filled initially for the purpose back in 1998. If anyone is questioning the price tag, consider not only the quality of these bourbons but the fact that over the time it spent in barrels, an extraordinary 72.7 per cent of the original liquid was lost to evaporation.

Finally, the George T. Stagg. Aged in newly charred (for just 55 seconds) oak barrels for more than fifteen years, it comes from a specially selected 309 barrels.

All of these last five prestige bourbons are part of what is known as Buffalo Trace Antique Collection, a five-bottle series of these glorious limited edition bourbons, released every Autumn to a lucky few.

And if they are not enough to convince you that great bourbon can sit at the same level as any spirit then nothing will!