Bourbon Heritage Month may be over but bourbon season is still in full swing. Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery has just announced the annual release of its coveted line of Pappy Van Winkle bourbon and rye whiskey. They have not announced all the details just yet. So far it’s just a primer to say the yield as with previous years are low do to the Angel’s Share loss during the 10 to 20 year aging cycle.
Pappy Van Winkle bourbons are aged years longer than most others whiskies and have become one of the most sought after bourbons in the world. Here’s a full breakdown of what the 2019 Pappy Van Winkle collection has to hold.
[table “” not found /]“Unfortunately we cannot control the price retailers charge, so some retailers mark it up beyond our MSRP, even though we ask them not to,” said Julian Van Winkle, President Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery. “We are committed to releasing a quality product and hope retailers will honor what we suggest as a fair retail price.”
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Beware of Counterfeit Pappy Van Winkle
We recently got to hear from members of the Van Winkle family at the 2019 Bourbon & Beyond Festival. The host for the seminar was the Festival’s bourbon curator and author Fred Minnick. During the seminar, which included samples of the Pappy Van Winkle 15 Year Old Bourbon, the topic turned to the secondary market. It was a hot button topic for Preston Van Winkle Marketing Manager for Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery.
“We and Buffalo Trace have taken some steps to kind of curb the secondary market,” said Preston “We’ve worked to have some Facebook groups shut down. First, it’s illegal and secondly it makes it harder for these folks (the audience) to get a bottle at a fair price. You also don’t know what you are getting in the bottle. You can buy something on the secondary market and we cannot guarantee what’s going to be in that bottle.”
Fred asked Preston, “If you could be in a room with a known counterfeiter one on one who was reselling, what would you say or do to that person?
“It would be ugly,” said Preston. “I would make them drink the whole bottle of whatever rock-gut they put in that bottle… We are deadly serious about this. We are just trying to protect our customers.”
Upon release of the Van Winkle bourbon this fall, Buffalo Trace Distillery, where Pappy Van Winkle is made, warns consumers to be wary of online resellers such as Craigslist and other online marketplaces, especially private Facebook and MeWe groups. “Trading and selling bourbon online is an unlicensed and illegal sale. Purchasing bourbon online from unlicensed parties is dangerous. The product may be counterfeit and unsafe. If you are not a licensed retailer and you are selling Van Winkle products, we are prepared to take action to curtail the activity,” adds Kris Comstock, senior marketing director at Buffalo Trace Distillery.
The Pappy Van Winkle Whiskeys will be available starting in November. Lines start forming now!
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