Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery is a Kentucky whiskey company owned by Julian Van Winkle III, the grandson of Julian “Pappy” Van Winkle, who founded the Stitzel-Weller Distillery in Louisville. Rip Van Winkle’s whiskeys are some of the most sought after Bourbons in the world.
The Stitzel-Weller company had a range of whiskeys in its portfolio, but after its sale in 1972, the family gave up the rights to brands like WL Weller, Rebel Yell and Old Fitzgerald. Van Winkle Jr resurrected the Old Rip Van Winkle brand that had not been a part of the sale, and used existing stocks from Stitzel-Weller.
In fact, the current business still has no distillery of its own. The whiskeys are now produced using Pappy’s original recipes at Buffalo Trace in Frankfort, in a joint venture with Sazerac begun in 2002.
The portfolio of five straight Bourbons and a rye whiskey is one of the most celebrated (and most highly priced) in the United States. The Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve series (15, 20 and 23 Years Old) are known for their dry, leather-tobacco flavors and woodiness, along with intense fruitiness – a result of their long aging.
Unlike most modern Bourbons, Van Winkle uses wheat rather than rye as the secondary ingredient after corn, and the whiskeys also include barley malt.
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