![](data:image/svg+xml;utf8,<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" version="1.1" height="2400px" width="3600px"></svg>)
A s bourbon continues to grow its presence and intrigue around the globe, the brands bearing the name Van Winkle have become synonymous with scarcity, prestige, longevity and, to those who already know a little about the brand, weathering the storm. Throughout their history, the Van Winkle family has seen its legacy go from salesman to wholesaler to producer to distillery owner to bottler and beyond. In the current era, all six Van Winkle whiskeys are distilled at Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, Kentucky. The Van Winkle name has moved so many times, and been on so many different labels, that even aficionados can have trouble keeping the timeline straight.
Let’s cut through that ilk.
The name Rip Van Winkle originates from an 1819 short story by American author Washington Irving, who also wrote “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” In the story, Rip Van Winkle is a man of Dutch descent living in New York’s Catskill Mountains. One evening while out hunting with his dog, he hears a voice calling out and finds dwarves carrying strong liquor. After helping them carry the flagons up the mountain, they imbibe and Van Winkle falls into a 20-year-sleep. When he wakes, he finds himself sporting a long, gray beard; his musket has deteriorated and Wolf is nowhere to be seen.
After Irving’s story, Old Rip Van Winkle soon appeared as a brand of whiskey sold during America’s rectifier era, in which whiskeys were blended with neutral spirits, fruit juice, caramel coloring and other liquids. A depiction of this character adorns the front label of the 10-year variety of Van Winkle, whose full name is Old Rip Van Winkle Handmade Bourbon. The other whiskeys in the Van Winkle line currently under production are Van Winkle Special Reserve 12 Year, Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye 13 Year and then the three Pappy bourbons: Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve 15 Year, Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve 20 Year and Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve 23 Year.
The Van Winkle family history is labyrinthine, touching on nearly every major name of Kentucky whiskey. They joined the liquor industry when Julian Prentice “Pappy” Van Winkle, Sr. began working as a salesman in 1893 for W. L. Weller & Sons, a liquor wholesaler. The Wellers, another famous last name that in many ways runs parallel to the Van Winkle history, would later sell their company to Van Winkle and his partner, Alex Farnsley, in 1908. The oldest son of W. L. Weller stayed on as President of the company.
After prohibition ended, Van Winkle and his partners merged with Arthur Stitzel of A. Ph. Stitzel Distillery to form Stitzel-Weller. That distillery was located in Louisville’s Butchertown neighborhood, but they would sell it shortly after their merger and build Stitzel-Weller Distillery in the Shively neighborhood in Louisville’s southwest. Famously, Stitzel-Weller celebrated its opening day on Kentucky Derby Day in 1935. (Since 1931, The Kentucky Derby is held on the first Saturday in May.)
Pappy Van Winkle would lead the distillery until he retired in 1964, passing the reigns to his son, Julian “Big Van” Van Winkle, Jr., who was forced to sell the Stitzel-Weller Distillery in 1972 by his partners to Somerset Importers, a subsidiary company owned by billionaire industrialist Norton Simon. As part of the deal, Big Van retained the rights to buy stock from the distillery and also sold all the labels produced at Stitzel-Weller save one, Old Rip Van Winkle, a decision that would prove fortuitous.
In 1977 Julian Van Winkle III joined his father in the family business and acquired the Old Hoffman Distillery in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, beginning to age and bottle the Old Rip Van Winkle brand. Even with bourbon in a market downturn, Julian III was determined to continue the family legacy. He followed the family mantra coined by Julian, Sr.: “We make fine bourbon at a profit if we can, at a loss if we must, but always fine bourbon.” The granddaughter of Julian, Sr., Sally Van Winkle Campbell, would go on to author a book entitled, “But Always Fine Bourbon,” detailing much of the family history.
“We make fine bourbon at a profit if we can, at a loss if we must, but always fine bourbon.”
After the purchase of Stitzel-Weller by Norton Simon, it was renamed Old Fitzgerald Distillery after its flagship brand. In 1984, Distillers Co. acquired the distillery and a year later began selling off their brands, including Old Fitzgerald, Rebel Yell, their various Weller labels and Cabin Still. Under these owners, the name of the operator would change names to United Distillers and, today, Diageo. They would focus heavily on the Australian and Japan markets until they shuttered Stitzel-Weller for good in 1992. Today, Buffalo Trace distills Weller, Heaven Hill distills Old Fitzgerald and Cabin Still, and MGP distills Rebel Yell, which has since dropped “Yell” from its name. Stitzel-Weller’s location now serves as a visitor center for Bulleit Frontier Whiskey.
In the mid-1990s, a now-iconic image of Pappy himself, chomping a cigar, first appeared on a whiskey label. Some think that this era’s whiskey is from Stitzel-Weller stocks that the family purchased under the terms of their contract, but in fact many of the very first releases come from a defunct distillery called Old Boone tucked into the southwest corner of Louisville. Exceptionally adept at blending, Julian III purchased these stocks from Jimmy Russell at Wild Turkey and used multiple distilleries to create his brands. In 2002 the current era of Pappy Van Winkle began when the family entered a partnership with Buffalo Trace to produce the Van Winkle brands, the first of which were released 10 years later in 2013.
While Van Winkle’s current six releases are the most well-known, there have been many Van Winkle labels over the years. Most came during the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s, when the family produced private labels at a high clip. Some of their clients at the time included Macy’s and Hilton Hotels, and the whiskeys made for them are considered some of the rarest and most highly sought-after bourbons ever made. It is said the Hilton private releases are so rare and few in number that even the Hilton family cannot find it.
Other super-limited releases are considered to be among the best whiskey ever made: Pappy Van Winkle 23 Year Family Reserve Bourbon 1st Release, often referred to as Green Glass or Gold Wax, Pappy Van Winkle 23 Year Family Reserve Bourbon ‘Kentucky Barrel Society’ Private Barrel Selection, Pappy Van Winkle’s 20 Year Old Family Reserve RNM Restaurant Single Barrel, Old Rip Van Winkle 15 Year Bourbon ‘Sam’s Wines & Spirits’ Private Barrel Selection, Pappy Van Winkle 15 Year Family Reserve Bourbon ‘Husk’ Private Barrel Selection, Lottas Home Papa’s Private Family Reserve 13 Year Old and Old Rip Van Winkle 10 Year Bourbon ‘Delilah’s 10th Anniversary’ Private Barrel Selection. These whiskeys are extraordinarily rare, even at auction, where a single bottle can easily fetch over $19,000.
According to the Van Winkle family, their annual releases carry an MSRP of $300 or less – but you will never find it for that price on the shelf. Finding a Van Winkle bourbon for $300 is as rare as seeing a unicorn in person. Collectors’ best option is to seek them out on the secondary market, where Van Winkle bourbons have developed a deserved reputation as one of the world’s most collectible whiskeys.
Sotheby’s October Whisky & Whiskey auction will feature a wide variety of Van Winkle releases from multiple years. It will be some of the highest quantity of Pappy to ever appear at a single auction. Be sure to register for a paddle and find the releases you’re missing in your collection.
In the last year, Sotheby’s has auctioned several varieties of Pappy for over $20,000 for a single bottle. These include: Van Winkle Special Reserve 19 Year Old Corti Bros, made for a gourmet grocery store in Sacramento, which auctioned for $22,500. Old Rip Van Winkle 18 Year Old Blue Smoke, distilled for a BBQ restaurant in downtown Manhattan, auctioned for $27,500. And Van Winkle Special Reserve 20 Year Old Cork N Bottle, for a northern Kentucky liquor store, sold for $20,000. In addition, Sotheby’s as also auctioned the more recent limited releases Old Rip Van Winkle 23 Year Old Decanter and Old Rip Van Winkle 25 Year Old Decanter for $27,500 and $37,500, respectively.
The Van Winkle family’s whiskey business is led by Julian III and his son Preston Van Winkle, and by identical triplets Carrie, Louise and Chenault, the great granddaughters of Pappy, Sr., whom run a bourbon lifestyle company called Pappy & Co and have a brick and mortar location in Louisville’s NuLu neighborhood just east of downtown.
