Pappy question

I'm a bourbon drinker but I've never had the coveted Pappy Van Winkle. I'd love to get a bottle of the 20 year or the 15 year just to have the experience.

I can't find either anywhere near me, and from what I gather they can be difficult to find. Does anybody know of an online vendor that sells either of these and about how much can I expect to pay?

At my favored liquor store you have to ask for anything other than the standard Old Rip Van Winkle. They keep the good stuff for preferred customers. It may help to ask if you haven't already.

I'd suggest asking the manager (in my case...our stores are state-owned) or the owner, if possible, though it's likely a lost cause for this year. Pappy shipped back in November, and I'd guess that it's all gone by now. You can buy it off the 'bay, though technically you're buying the "collectible bottle" and not the contents, but be prepared to pay ~$120 for the 12yo (3x normal price) *Correction-You used to be able to buy it on the 'bay. Looks like that practice has been stopped.

Much easier to find, and the equal of the Pappy's 12yo, is the W.L. Weller 12yo you can find just about everywhere for $25. They share the same mashbill and distillery, with my understanding the primary difference being the aging location in the barrel house. Here's a comparison of the two.

I tasted the Pappy 20 year old for the first time today. It was sublime. Smooth, with a very slight sweetness and an aroma with a hint of butterscotch. I usually prefer scotch to bourbon, but this was really excellent.

Nick

Do yourself a favor and get the Weller 12 year old. It's the equivalent of Van Winkles in all but the 20 and 23 year old bottlings. All are made of wheat and all are made at Buffalo Trace.

Greyfox said:

Do yourself a favor and get the Weller 12 year old. It's the equivalent of Van Winkles in all but the 20 and 23 year old bottlings. All are made of wheat and all are made at Buffalo Trace.

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Thanks for the suggestion. I'll look for it.

Do yourself a favor and get the Weller 12 year old. It's the equivalent of Van Winkles in all but the 20 and 23 year old bottlings. All are made of wheat and all are made at Buffalo Trace.

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Not sure if serious.


I'm just gonna leave this here.....

CyanideJenkins said:

Not sure if serious.


I'm just gonna leave this here.....

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Where in God's name did you find that? I can't find a single bottle, much less multiples

Where in God's name did you find that? I can't find a single bottle, much less multiples

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I got on as many waiting lists as I could. Including a ton of them where I had friends living across the country. Those nine bottles came from 6 different liquor stores.

CyanideJenkins said:

Not sure if serious.


I'm just gonna leave this here.....

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I am totally serious. All of the old SW stock is gone. PVW is now pretty much over hyped. Very good mind you but it is still BT whiskey with some Bleneim. Julian Van Winkle has done a masterful job of marketing this product. Unfortunately, the whiskey that made it great is no more. Weller 12 is a great substitute.

The Buffalo Trace distilling agreement wasn't reached until 2001, if I remember right, so I think the 15/20/23yo are all still from SW; not sure about this year's 12yo. Read an interview/article about Julian III that said Old Rip Van Winkle 10yo production is going to increase in the coming years as BT ups the output.

That said, I agree re the W L Weller 12yo. If you're into wheated bourbons (my favorite bourbons have some rye in the mashbill, a la Evan Williams Single Barrel), you can do a lot worse while spending a lot more than you'll pay for the Weller. The Old Weller 107 is not as good as the 12yo, but I picked up a couple of bottles for $20/per a couple of months ago, and it's a nice drink.

This is what Sour Mash Manifesto had to say about S-W juice and Pappy:

http://sourmashmanifesto.com/2011/12/

I like Weller 12yo but my Mark I calibrated taste buds tell me my bottle of Pappy 15 is better.

OldAF said:

This is what Sour Mash Manifesto had to say about S-W juice and Pappy:

http://sourmashmanifesto.com/2011/12/

I like Weller 12yo but my Mark I calibrated taste buds tell me my bottle of Pappy 15 is better.

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Nice read, OldAF, and much appreciated. So it would follow that the 2012 15yo is at least mostly BT, not S-W, if not all. I suppose it is not impossible that older S-W juice went into this year's bottle to maintain the PVW flavor profile (label age refers to the youngest whiskey in the bottle), though I would guess that is unlikely given the popularity of the 2011 15yo.

As you know from earlier in this thread, the 15yo is my favorite in the VW line as a balance of taste and value; I think the Weller 12yo is more comparable to the VW 12yo. All good bourbons, just not all good value propositions.

The liquor store closest to my house has had a trickle of different bottles come in over the past few months. My uncle is a huge pappy fan so I picked up bottles for him. To date I was able to score a 23 yr, 20 yr, 4 12yr's, and at least 8 Old Rip Van Winkles. I have a bottle of the ORVW for myself, but the rest is too rich for me. In fact the owner of the liquor store put a gift set together.



It contained a bottle of rye, 12yr, 15yr, 20yr, and 23yr along with 2 glasses (unmarked). He was listing for 1,999.99 (which I did not buy for myself or my uncle )

For anyone interested, episode 3 'Memory' of David Chang's The Mind of a Chef on PBS has a segment with Julian van Winkle where they make old fashions. Unfortunately I can't find the episode online anymore, but I think they're still showing reruns.

It's been posted that Diego is going to reopen the old Stitzler Weller distillery and start making juice again. News up on all the bourbon forums and whiskey advocate as well.