This is the 2015 bottling of Pappy Van Winkle's Family Reserve 20 Year, a Kentucky straight bourbon made to the Van Winkle wheated recipe and aged for twenty years. At 90.4 proof it is rich but not fiery, with the dried fruit and leather depth that long ageing brings.
About This Bourbon
Bottled at 90.4 proof (45.2% ABV) after at least twenty years in new charred oak, the 20 Year sits at a lower strength than the 15 or 23. A 2015 bottling was distilled no later than 1995. The family places it in the same bracket as a good after-dinner cognac, and it rewards that kind of attention: small pours, taken slowly.
Tasting Profile
- Nose: Sultanas, orange marmalade, old leather armchair and sandalwood.
- Palate: Silky, with butterscotch, fig, espresso and a slight mineral edge.
- Finish: Very long, with cedar, pipe tobacco and dark honey.
Serving & Food
Serve neat in a small snifter at about 18°C, much as you would a cognac, and cup the glass for a minute to warm it slightly. Good partners are a fig and walnut tart, aged Gouda with crunchy crystals, or roasted chestnuts on a winter night.
How to Enjoy
An after-dinner glass for a cognac or armagnac drinker who is curious about American whiskey.
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: 2015
Volume: 750mL
Region: Kentucky, USA
Origin: USA
About the Distillery
The Pappy Van Winkle name is younger than many drinkers assume. Only in the mid-1990s did Julian III relabel the family's older whiskeys under his grandfather's name and image, and the 20 Year was the first bottle to carry the Pappy label.
It made an immediate mark. In 1996 the Beverage Testing Institute in Chicago gave it the highest rating the institute had ever awarded a whiskey, and when the results were published in Wine Enthusiast, interest in the family's bottlings took off.