Pappy Van Winkle's Family Reserve 20 Year is a wheated Kentucky straight bourbon aged for twenty years and bottled at 90.4 proof (45.2% ABV). This bottle is offered without a specified release year.
About This Bourbon
At 90.4 proof the 20 Year sits at the gentle end of the family's strength range. Twenty or more years in new charred oak bring a deep amber colour and a savoury, leathery depth, with coffee and tobacco laid over a core of caramel and dried fruit. The minimum age on the label is twenty years, and the recipe uses wheat rather than rye alongside corn and malted barley.
Tasting Profile
- Nose: Roasted coffee, dried cranberry, tanned leather and a flinty mineral note.
- Palate: Medium to full, with caramel, raisin, walnut and clove.
- Finish: Long, with savoury oak, dark chocolate and tobacco.
Serving & Food
Neat, at room temperature, in a tulip glass; a gentle swirl brings the aroma up if the bottle has been open a while. Enjoy it with Stilton and oatcakes, slow-roasted pork belly, or honey-roasted cashews.
How to Enjoy
A considered gift for a seasoned bourbon drinker, or a quiet nightcap when time allows.
Product Details
Producer: Buffalo Trace Distillery / Van Winkle
Country: USA
Region: Kentucky
Style: Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey
Mash Style: Wheated bourbon
Age: 20 years
Release / Bottling Year: NV
ABV: 45.2%
Proof: 90.4
Volume: 750mL
About the Distillery
The Van Winkle range is small and built around age and strength. Old Rip Van Winkle 10 Year is bottled at 107 proof, close to barrel strength, with only a splash of Kentucky limestone well water added. Van Winkle Special Reserve 12 Year comes in at 90.4 proof. The Family Reserve bourbons follow: the 15 Year at 107 proof, the 20 Year at 90.4 and the 23 Year at 95.6, with a 13-year-old rye completing the set.
All of the bourbons share one recipe, so the differences between them come from time in the barrel and the strength chosen at bottling. The 20 Year and the 12 Year are bottled at the same proof, which makes tasting the two together a clear lesson in what eight more years of oak does.