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Old Rip Van Winkle
We had the immense pleasure of trying this at Whisky Live, really great stuff; Van Winkle 23 is a super bourbon of epic proportions. They release yearly batches of this, all of which sell out rather speedily, the batches are very small, consisting of a few casks' worth each.
Immense wood flavoured bourbon that is just epic.
Firstly, let's get this straight... Buffalo Trace are NOT the ones selling this at mental money. It's actually available for a very reasonable price from the distillery. It's the general public who push the price up through re-selling. At the original price, this is an absolutely stunning bourbon and an absolute bargain. At £3000 per bottle, it's quite simply absurd. I think I paid £210ish for my bottle and it's money well spent. Buffalo Trace (despite the absurd tirade from the "Kentuckian" below) make some incredible whiskeys, including Eagle Rare, George T Stagg, etc. etc. etc. This is no different. Great value at retail price but if you're willing to spend £3000 on a £200 bottle of whiskey, what exactly are you expecting?
I had a shot of this in 2010, and it was impressively smooth, nutty and caramel tasting for something which is approaching 100 proof. A lot better than Wild Turkey of similar strength, better than Woodford (a fave of mine). But after an evening in a bourbon bar I really should not have tried this last, I was probably too drunk to appreciate, but I was drunk enough to pay £40 for a single shot. Same year I was lucky enough to buy a bottle during a visit to the distillery in Frankfort, KY, and I have been saving for a special occasion. Question is ... is it a drinker, cellar or a seller?
Truly special stuff. Price tag is obviously steep but for a money is no object drink, it's hard to top. For the individual who rather oddly heralds Heaven Hill as being better than Pappy 23, I'll just say that I personally love a lot of what Buffalo Trace puts out there. I think they're easily the best Kentucky has to offer for overall output. But aside from that I'll just point out the basic fact that 2014 was less than 23 years ago. Seems a pretty obvious statement but lest anyone is confused PVW 23 predates the Buffalo Trace bottling it (circa 2002) by a number of years. So whatever your issues may be with BT, it is irrelevant with respect to PVW 23.
Pappy Van Winkle 23 yr is absolute trash. Unless you like the feeling of sand and the taste of an ashtray in your mouth. Pappy Van Winkle has a secret! Pappy hasn't been Pappy since 2014 when the last true barrels of the Van Winkle distillery were exhausted from the barrel house in Louisville, Kentucky. Since the 2015 bottling of Van Winkle you are buy nothing more than glorified Buffalo Trace. Buffalo Trace bought the rights and the recipe from the Julian Van Winkle estate and have taken over making it. It is not made with the same care and passion that the Van Winkle distillery used to craft the spirits that they produced. Buffalo Trace has become a bane to our existence here in Kentucky as they have tried to buy up as many storied recipes as they can not produce them, so that the world can experience them, but rather to push them into obscurity. Buffalo Trace is nothing more than a money mill, their master distiller is an absolute joke and they are nothing more than a well funded upstart in the bourbon community. If you want true quality Kentucky bourbon stop spending $200 or more on hype and look along the bottom shelf of your liquor store. Three bourbons reside there that are less than $15 a bottle and are far more smooth and delicious. They are: Ancient Age, Heaven Hill (Bottled in Bond) and J.W. Dant (Bottled in Bond). Yeah, yeah I know the stigma of BIB bourbon but as a life long Kentucky boy that drinks nothing but bourbon I can tell you that I had 4 bottles of Van Winkle 23 that I sold for <$25 because Pappy Van Winkle bourbon post 2014 is nothing but hyped up Buffalo Trace trash.
Trade
