This is Pappy Van Winkle's Family Reserve 15 Year from the 2016 bottling, a wheated Kentucky straight bourbon at 107 proof. It is the youngest of the three Family Reserve ages and also the strongest, which gives it a fuller, more forceful style than the 20 or 23 Year.
About This Bourbon
The 15 Year comes from barrels picked from the heart of the family's Kentucky warehouse and left alone for at least fifteen years. It goes into the bottle at 107 proof (53.5% ABV), the highest strength in the Family Reserve line, so the oak arrives with plenty of weight behind it. A 15-year-old bottled in 2016 was distilled in 2001 or earlier, before Van Winkle production moved to Frankfort.
Tasting Profile
- Nose: Toffee, orange peel, warm leather and cinnamon over toasted oak.
- Palate: Full and oily, with caramel, dark cherry, brown sugar and peppery brown spice carried by the high strength.
- Finish: Long and drying, with seasoned oak, black pepper and fading vanilla.
Serving & Food
Serve at room temperature, around 18 to 20°C, in a Glencairn or small tulip glass. At 107 proof it takes a teaspoon of cool water well, which softens the heat and lifts the fruit. Try it after dinner with pecan pie, a wedge of aged Comté, or dark chocolate with sea salt.
How to Enjoy
Marking a milestone, or a side-by-side tasting against the 20 Year to see what extra strength and five fewer years bring.
Product Details
Producer: Old Rip Van Winkle
Expression: Pappy Van Winkle's Family Reserve 15 Year
Style: Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey
Mash Bill: Wheated (corn, wheat, malted barley)
Age: 15 years old
ABV: 107 proof / 53.5% ABV
Release Year: 2016
Volume: 750mL
Region: Kentucky, USA
Origin: USA
About the Distillery
The family story starts with a salesman. In 1893 Julian "Pappy" Van Winkle Sr., still a teenager, went on the road for the Louisville wholesaler W.L. Weller & Sons, selling whiskey from a horse and buggy. After Prohibition he took charge of the combined Weller business and the A. Ph. Stitzel Distillery, and on Derby Day 1935, aged 61, he opened the new Stitzel-Weller Distillery in Shively, on the edge of Louisville.
The recipe he built the house around swapped rye for wheat as the flavouring grain alongside corn and malted barley. Wheat brings less spice and bite than rye, so the spirit comes off softer and handles long barrel ageing without turning harsh. That wheated style still runs through every bottle carrying his portrait.