Old Rip Van Winkle Handmade Family Reserve 16 Year Old Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

An incredibly rare offering from the Van Winkle family reserve. This was bottled in 1990 by Julian Van Winkle III. His father, Julian II, had retained an office at the old Stitzel-Weller distillery following his forced sale of it in the 1970s, but this hospitality was not extended to his son, who had to buy Hoffman distillery in 1983, renaming it Old Commonwealth. There he bottled much of the best-regarded whiskey in America, including Nathan Stone’s, Very Olde St. Nick, the A.H. Hirsch Reserve, and this, the Van Winkle Family Reserve. This Van Winkle family reserve bourbon was sourced from Boone distillery, where it was barreled in 1974. It was bottled twice: this one in 19910 and then again in 1991 (17 yo version). Both were intended for the Japanese market, which was at the time more willing to pay premium prices for well-aged bourbon. Van Winkle III continued to bottle at Old Commonwealth until 2002, when thinning stocks necessitated an agreement with the Sazerac company, which warehoused his remaining barrels and produced limited quantities of Pappy Van Winkle Family Reserve on an annual basis until it finally ran out. It is now distilled at Buffalo Trace using Pappy’s old recipe. These original bottles of Boone distilled Van Winkle reserves are incredibly rare and sought after in equal measure. Fun fact: Van Winkle has stated that he “got away” with using red wax here as Maker’s Mark only held the trademark in the US.