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Check out what happens when street and style converge! Legal - Sitemap. And I mean, I do think big meta things like that are certainly at play.
And some of it is probably just really, really sophisticated marketing. Can you separate from how much nostalgia and the story colors your love of Pappy and just step back and judge the bourbon solely on its merits?
I would say that any attempt to do one without the other is nuts. It is interesting when you realize that you go to a liquor store and look at the hundreds of bourbon labels and six places distilled 95 percent of all of that whiskey. That reminds me of when I sold watches after college and found out that so many of them at that mall store—from the cheap to the designer—were made by the same manufacturer and the only difference in price was the perceived value of the brand label slapped on it.
Bourbon labels have always been a lie. My father and grandfather made whiskey. You and I could go make moonshine. It is really hard to manage it.
And if you talk to bourbon industry people, Julian is not just a guy with a famous last name. People talk with awe of his ability to do that. And in some ways, success has also taken on another one of his great skills, which was going around buying barrels of bourbon and blending them to get a flavor profile. He was originally buying barrels of Stitzel-Weller—which everyone agrees is the finest bourbon in the world—that were just everywhere over Kentucky.
I mean, to the point that Diageo was using Stitzel-Weller bourbon as two percent of the Crown Royal blend. They were throwing it away. Julian was borrowing as much money as he could to buy as much of it as he could. Julian Van Winkle Sr. They polluted all the limestone aquifers in Kentucky so they have to use an ionized water now. Pollution just forever changed that. You know, Stitzel-Weller sits on top of the big old limestone aquifers, but that whole world is gone.
The producer has to wait over two decades to even sell it, and then the amount that evaporates during that time leaves very little left. This is known as the "angel's share" and is a factor in any bourbon production, but is significantly more in one aged as long as this one. In , a sales representative from the company submitted the 20 year Pappy to the Beverage Testing Institute. There, it garnered an unbelievable rating of 99 out of That brought the bourbon to the attention of spirits aficionados everywhere and sent demand through the roof.
One of the most unique aspects to this story is that it almost happened accidentally. Julian Van Winkle ended up with many barrels of aging bourbon simply because the it hadn't reached the mainstream market like other spirits in the day. By the time the s rolled around, Julian had barrels of bourbon at unheard of ages beyond the usual 12 or less. After the rating by the Beverage Testing Institute, the rest became history.
Who Was Pappy Van Winkle? The Pappy Wheat Secret Bourbon must be made from a minimum of 51 percent corn in its grain mixture. As a rule, I try not to entangle myself with shady businesses. Asking a purported money launderer for a deal on a bottle of whiskey feels like a one-way ticket to run errands for the mob. Then again, people have committed serious crimes to get their hands on some Pappy. He also fired a silenced pistol in the parking lot to intimidate other employees and was very, very into selling illegal steroids.
The ringleader pleaded not guilty and got 15 years — and then was released for probation 30 days into his sentence. Does the judge drink bourbon, perhaps? So before getting illicit, I try the vendors.
I call and email. I could canvas more random liquor stores. Instead I crack and call up the maybe-shady store. The Boss of the place picks up. My heart skips a beat. No Pappy, then? You collect? Come in tomorrow. I show up the next night, curious, a little excited. The store is long and narrow, with lots of neon lights, a line of fridges filled with boozy canned mixed drinks on one side and stocked liquor shelves all down the other.
The Boss has got some interesting goods behind the counter. I ask how he gets the cool bottles. A lot of work, he says. Move a lot of whiskey. I get the VP of Fireball in here, other bigwigs, all the time. I have not. He got one of the twelve bottles that made it to LA, he says. He is suddenly suspicious. I have blown it. His eyes sharpen into suspicious blades. I realize The Boss is jacked. You mostly collect then?
Am I an idiot? I play it cool and start asking him about other bottles. The Boss cools off. Disappointing, but free is free. We go outside for a smoke. He leans on a blacked-out Tesla Model S — his.
Points next door. I understand a bit, being a freelancer. He smokes and we drink.
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