Old Rip Van Winkle 10 years, 53.5% abv.

Although considered part of the pappy lineup, or van winkle lineup, or pappy van winkle lineup, this old rip is a little different than the older 3. This lineup refers to Julian Sr. “Pappy” Van Winkle, a traveling salesman for W.L. Weller and Sons. In 1931, he and a friend would later buy W.L. Weller as well as the A. Ph. Stitzel distillery that supplied W.L. Weller with their bourbon to make the infamous Stitzel-Weller. Ownership passed to Julian Jr., who through some unfortunate events, was forced to sell the SW distillery and associated brands in 1972... except the Old Rip Van Winkle brand. Julian Jr. also bought back some SW barrels to continue ORVW bottling. In 1981, Julian III inherited the ORVW label and SW stocks, but the SW distillery stopped bottling services for ORVW. Services would transfer to Hoffman distillery in Lawrenceburg. Some good stuff happened which I'll talk about another day, but SW closed in 1992 and the Winkle family went with Buffalo Trace in 2002, supposedly because they made a similar wheated bourbon.

Nose: honey and boiled peanuts, cardboard, a backhint of soot, hidden light concentrated apple juice on the back.

Palate: subtley sweet, initial palate is sweet, a little light, dry, mid palate is mellowed pineapple, golden apple juice, maybe some coconut?, apple skin, hints of caramel for the foundation, back palate is spicey!

Finish: short to medium, caramel residue, sweetness and spice.

If I didn't know any better, this tasted like a rye than a wheater! Much more spicey than anything I had tonight and a subtle diversity in flavors. Still favors the honey and wood aspects like most bourbons, but luckily it adds a few extra aspects such as pineapple and apples. Might need to be conservative.

Grade: B

Whiskyanalysis.com, 8.88 ± 0.24 on 11 reviews
Thewhiskeywash, Margarett Waterbury, 90/100 for 2016?

Image courtesy of Eric Yee.

Eric Yee

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