10 Days of Bourbon Christmas - Day 2

When I originally set out to do this series of posts my plan was to list bourbon drinking accessories first and then a few bourbons towards the end.  Since there was reasonable outcry that Day 1's gift was not consumable, I thought I'd throw ya a bone on Day 2.

My favorite all-around bourbon - Old Weller Antique

Old Weller Antique Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey.  Yes, this is a one I talk about frequently as it's my favorite all-around bourbon.  Why?  Let's start with a wheated mashbill that imparts a slight sweetness to blend with the spices and woodiness of the barrel.  Let me remind you that this mashbill is the same exact mashbill used in Pappy Van Winkle bourbons, which makes perfect sense since they are both distilled and aged by Buffalo Trace.  I like these wheat recipe bourbons a lot because wheat doesn't have the flavor fireworks that rye has and the result is that you taste more of the part that the charred white oak barrel has played in the aging process.  Speaking of fireworks, this bourbon is 107 proof, or 53.5% alcohol!  Another reminder: Pappy Van Winkle 15yr is bottled at 107 proof...  My favorite whiskeys are of a higher proof.  I enjoy the fiery flavor when sipped neat and also the flavors that open up when the bourbon is taken down in proof through the addition of ice or branch water.  I'm also of the opinion that higher proof whiskeys tend to mix better classic cocktails, like The BTS Old Fashioned shown above, as they keep the alcohol on center stage.

Ok, so here you have a bourbon that has the same mashbill, proof, and producer as Pappy Van Winkle 15yr.  It's gotta be expensive, right?  HELL NO!  You can find OWA locally here in Miami for about $25! BOOM!

Instead of killing yourself trying to locate a bottle of Pappy this holiday season and then emptying your wallet when you finally do, take the smart approach and give Old Weller Antique a try.  It's a fantastic bourbon at a reasonable price.  Plus, you'll save some money to buy even more Bourbon Christmas items!

Stay tuned!

R.I.P. - My Pappy is Dead

The Van Winkle family collection (missing Van Winkle Reserve Rye)

Anyone who is mildly into bourbon has heard the name "Pappy Van Winkle".  If not, you must be living under a rock.  Bourbon is all the rage these days and the Van Winkle brand is the golden goose of the bunch.  A little history lesson for ya...  Julian "Pappy" Van Winkle made his mark as a whiskey salesman for W.L. Weller & Sons in the late 1800s, later purchasing the A. Ph. Stitzel Distillery in 1910 and forming Stitzel-Weller that distilled his own bourbon whiskey - Old Rip Van Winkle amongst other brands like Old Fitzgerald and W.L. Weller.  Prohibition hit and the Old Rip brand did not resurface until after 1972 when the distillery and its brands were sold off.  The Van Winkle family retained the rights to the Old Rip brand.  Julian Van Winkle Jr resurrected the Old Rip Van Winkle brand shortly after Stitzel-Weller sold, buying up stocks of his family's whiskey, a wheated recipe that imparts a smooth, sweet flavor.  In 1981, Julian Van Winkle III took the reigns of the family business.  In the early 90's, with whiskey an afterthought in a burgeoning rum and vodka market and many whiskey distilleries struggling, he saw opportunity.  He bought up barrels of his family's whiskey that had sat for years aging in charred oak barrels and introduced a premium aged bourbon under the Pappy Van Winkle name with the bottle bearing an image of his grandfather.  Boom!  Last year, Julian Van Winkle III won a James Beard Award for Outstanding Wine and Spirits Professional and it was well deserved.  Today, the Van Winkle family keeps the Pappy Van Winkle brand alive through a partnership with Buffalo Trace. 

Each year, a limited quantity of 7000 or so cases is released and states and their distribution channels are allocated a limited amount to sell to consumers.  Last year the chances of getting a bottle were somewhat slim.  Today it's damn near impossible without paying, in many cases, double what you would've paid last year or more.  It's the bourbon industry's hottest commodity, coming in bottles of 10, 12, 15, 20, and 23 years of age and fetching suggested prices of anywhere from $50 to $300 per bottle.  You've got to get lucky and/or have some cash to burn to get your hands on your bottle of Pappy.  But it wasn't always this way...

I remember a mere 2 years ago walking into Total Wine & Spirits, seeing a bunch of bottles of Pappy gracing the shelves, and purchasing one for my buddy, Chadzilla, for his birthday.  No frenzy, no fuss, no muss.  This year, I was at Total Wine & Spirits the day they got a few bottles in stock.  The Pappy Van Winkle 15yr bottle, a favorite of mine, last year sold at Total Wine & Spirits for a well-deserved and respectable $69.99.  This year?  Try $149.99.  The 20yr, a great bourbon at $89.99-$119.99, is now $199.99.  The 23yr somehow held the selling price of $299.99 on Total's shelves.

So why the price hike?  Well, like I said, bourbon is all the rage these days.  Pop culture has embraced bourbon whiskey and distilleries are producing like no tomorrow.  This is great for the industry.  After all, bourbon is the only spirit classified by Congress as a distinct product of the United States of America.  That means you can't get Chinese, Italian, Latvian, French, or Russian bourbon.  This juice must come from the good ol' US of A in order to bear the "bourbon" name.  More business is great for this American industry.  It creates more jobs.  But now what used to be a prize savored by enthusiasts has now become mainstream society's object of affection.  The Pappy that I once knew and loved is dead.  He's buried far underneath a pile of pop culture television shows and celebrities that have taken this prize usually reserved for appreciative enthusiasts and placed it in the limelight, many just to say they're the big man for drinking the best stuff.  Well, they broke rule #1 of Pappy Club and that is...you don't talk about Pappy Club!

We make fine bourbon.

At a profit if we can,

at a loss if we must,

but always fine bourbon.

- Julian "Pappy" Van Winkle   

It's pretty simple math, really.  Take something that is limited and blab about it in the media where millions are exposed to it and...BOOM...demand far exceeds supply even more than it ever had with a cult following.  And what happens when demand exceeds supply?  Yes, that's right - prices increase.  You can't fault the producers.  They pay taxes on this whiskey as it ages in charred, white oak barrels for 10-23 years.  Why shouldn't they make the boku bucks?  Thing is, they really don't.  The ones who benefit are usually those on the distributor level or on the consumer level where people flip bottles on eBay and elsewhere for ridiculous amounts because there are those people out there ready to spend, spend, spend, who just HAVE to have the most expensive product out there.  After all, it must be the best if it costs the most, right?

Thing is - when it comes to Pappy Van Winkle bourbon - it is the best.  As frustrated as I've become with the chore of sourcing a bottle, I simply can't say it's not the best bourbon on the market.  I love the stuff.  I'm more than happy to have stocked up on bottles of the 15yr last year at a fair price.  I enjoy the hell out of them every time I pour a dram of Pappy, usually reserved for special occasions.  A bottle of the precious 23yr lasted me nearly 2 years, kept hidden away on my home bar to be poured in celebration only.  The 20yr expression is my favorite bourbon whiskey of all time.  I love that juice.

When I say "the best" I'm purely stating my personal opinion on the flavor of the bourbon whiskey that's in the bottle.  Is it the best value?  At the prices bottles of PVW are fetching today the answer is no.  I had a hearty laugh when the clerk at Total Wine told me the 15yr would be $150 this year, more than double it's cost on the very same shelf the previous year.  That was pure comedy to me.  But sadly, it was also confirmation that my Pappy is dead.  Part of what made PVW the best was that it was priced at a premium but that premium was still a somewhat accessible price.  The sensationalists who want to shell out $150 for a bottle of Pappy 15yr can have at it.  I'll happily take 6-7 bottles of Old Weller Antique, a bourbon made from the exact same wheated recipe as Pappy that is aged differently (age, rickhouse location) but bottled at the same exact proof, for the same $150 price.

Yup, you won't find me chasing after any Van Winkle bottles this year.  I've got a few stashed away in my bourbon bunker and I'm finding so many bourbons under $30 that I love that I really don't care to spend the extra dough.  I'm enjoying more and more great rye whiskeys for short money too.  I'm also loving other limited releases of single barrel and small batch bourbons like those the good folks at Four Roses are producing.  These days, there's a lot of fantastic stuff out there to be sipped and savored, too much to be chasing the ghost of a whiskey that was once

My Pappy is dead.  He was great and I loved him.  Still do.  But he's buried in the back of my bourbon bunker now.  I've moved on. 

APBB (All Points Bourbon Bulletin) - 2011 Pappy Van Winkle in Stores!

Yes, bourbon fans, it's true.  The 2011 batch of Pappy Van Winkle bourbon hit the shelves towards the latter half of last week and yours truly made sure to get some before it was gonzo.

Making my usual rounds last week for dinner, I noticed that the Van Winkle Rye had made its way to some bar shelves and wondered if the bourbon would be coming soon after.  Rumor had it that the release was to be later in the month.  I called Total Wine to see if they had their allocation in yet and a woman there informed me that they indeed did and that they were already sold out of the 20 year.  Time was of the essence - to the Bourbonmobile!

You see, each year there is a very limited amount of the Pappy Van Winkle brand released.  Why?  Because that's all there is!  Think about it - these bourbons have been aging in barrels for 12 to 23 years.  That means that the distillery has paid for the production and then has to wait 12 to 23 years before they can recoup their expenses and hopefully make a profit.  Julian "Pappy" Van Winkle would not compromise on his product.  His famous quote: "We make fine bourbon.  At a profit if we can, at a loss if we must.  But always fine bourbon."  That mantra has been carried out by the Van Winkle family, whose family involvement in the bourbon industry has now hit its fourth generation.

Pappy started as a salesman for spirits wholesaler W.L. Weller & Sons before eventually purchasing the business and then the A. Ph Stitzel distillery, combining the two to form Stitzel-Weller.  During Prohibition, Stitzel-Weller was licensed by the US Government to produce whiskey for medicinal purposes.  The distillery would survive Prohibition and thrive afterwards, culminating with shareholders forcing its sale and the sale of its brands, with the exception of the brand that carried the family name - Old Rip Van Winkle.  Pappy's son, Julian Jr, resurrected the Old Rip Brand before he passed away in 1981, handing the reigns over to his son, Julian Van Winkle III.  Julian III brought the Pappy Van Winkle brand to market in the mid-90's, creating a demand for aged bourbons using his family's wheated recipe, rather than the traditional and less costly rye, the wheat imparting a smoothness to the flavor while retaining the bourbon's character flavors.  It's history in a bottle and it's fantastic juice.  Today it's distilled, aged, and bottled by the Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, Kentucky, a place I visited a few years ago.

I picked up the 15 year old bourbon as that is my favorite for the money.  I actually like the 20 year the best but at $120 a bottle down here, it's $50 more than the 15 year.  Total Wine also was out of the 20 year after a woman came in and bought all 12 bottles (yeah, that's about $1500 after tax!) on the first day they got the shipment in.  The 23 year is going for $299 at Total Wine but that is out of my league given all the bourbon I could drink for $30 or less.  If I were to spend that much on PVW bourbon, I'd go for 4 of the 15 year ($70) or two of the 20 year for that price and wouldn't really miss out on too much.  The 12 year Van Winkle Special Reserve also sits on my bar and it's another good buy at $60 though if given the opportunity I'd spend the extra sawbuck for the 15 year every time.

As for the bourbon itself...  The alcohol is there but not strong on the nose, giving scents of leather, vanilla, and caramel, without being overly woody.  It's got an average viscosity that coats the tongue nicely before giving way to a nice sweetness with hints of vanilla, caramel, apple, milk chocolate and a hint of dried cherry.  The finish is smooth as ever with the vanilla flavor really holding throughout.  That is also the predominant scent that was left in the empty glass after I left out overnight.  A truly fantastic bourbon to sip neat.

If you are into bourbon and haven't tried a Pappy Van Winkle yet, there are many spots in Miami to give it try before you make the decision to buy.  Zuma, Bourbon Steak, Michael's Genuine, Sustain, Yardbird, and new spot The Dutch all have it on the shelves.  Total Wine is the only spot I know that's carrying it and their stock on the 15 year was extremely limited in the North Miami store.  Don't take too long to make your decision.  It'll be gone before you know it!