Pappy Van Winkle's Family Reserve 20 Year, bottled in 2013, is a wheated Kentucky straight bourbon aged for two decades and bottled at 90.4 proof. The modest strength keeps the long oak influence in check and makes it an easy whiskey to sip slowly.
About This Bourbon
The whiskey in this 2013 bottling was distilled in 1993 or earlier, nearly a decade before Van Winkle production moved to Frankfort, so it comes from older wheated stocks laid down in the early 1990s. It spent at least twenty years in new charred oak and was bottled at 90.4 proof (45.2% ABV), a strength that lets the age come through without heat.
Tasting Profile
- Nose: Dark caramel, polished leather, cigar box and dried orange.
- Palate: Supple and mid-weight, with toffee, baked apple, coffee and cedar.
- Finish: Long, with dry oak, tobacco leaf and a faint note of mint.
Serving & Food
Best neat at room temperature in a tulip-shaped nosing glass; at 90.4 proof it needs no water. Pair it with a few slices of Ibérico ham, dates stuffed with almonds, or a crème brûlée after dinner.
How to Enjoy
A slow evening glass for someone who likes older, gentler bourbon, or a gift for a 20th anniversary.
Product Details
Producer: Old Rip Van Winkle
Expression: Pappy Van Winkle's Family Reserve 20 Year
Style: Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey
Mash Bill: Wheated (corn, wheat, malted barley)
Age: 20 years old
ABV: 90.4 proof / 45.2% ABV
Release Year: 2013
Volume: 750mL
Region: Kentucky, USA
Origin: USA
About the Distillery
In 1972, with bourbon sales falling, the family had to sell Stitzel-Weller. They held on to one thing: the pre-Prohibition Old Rip Van Winkle label, which Julian Jr. then used to bottle whiskey from the old distillery's stocks.
His son, Julian Van Winkle III, joined him in 1977 and bought what was left of the Old Hoffman Distillery in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, using it to age, process and bottle the family whiskey. When Julian Jr. died in 1981, Julian III took over. For two decades the Van Winkles had no still of their own, working with whiskey distilled elsewhere and doing the ageing, selection and bottling themselves.