PVW-12yr 05 vs 06?

[tritioch]

Just got in some PVW-12yr Lot B, two different batches. One has the bottling date 6/21/05, and the other 11/8/06. Normally I wouldn't question this too much, but the invoice has them titled seperatly (one PVW-12yr LotB and the other PVW-12yr Special reserve) which in my experience implies some changes in the product. Is this possibly a change from SW product in the bottle to other?

Any thoughts or help would be greatly apreciated.

[Joeluka]

Just got in some PVW-12yr Lot B, two different batches. One has the bottling date 6/21/05, and the other 11/8/06. Normally I wouldn't question this too much, but the invoice has them titled separately (one PVW-12yr LotB and the other PVW-12yr Special reserve) which in my experience implies some changes in the product. Is this possibly a change from SW product in the bottle to other?

Any thoughts or help would be greatly appreciated.

I believe that Lot B has been free of S-W bourbon since 2004. So both of your bottles would be non-S-W bourbon anyway.

If I may ask though, are you not enjoying either bottle?? Did you buy them for the Van Winkle name or for the chance of S-W bourbon??

[tritioch]

I'm in retail, so I haven't purchased either .....yet , and regardless I beleive I will enjoy it. The change in name on the invoice made me curious though. Locally such changes only happen when something changes (read product is registered differently with the state) inside the bottle or the label changes. Barcode is the same, label is the same... so I'm wondering if something is different between the two batches inside the bottle?

Aside: The VanWinkle lable is all I need on the bottle, SW or other is merely a curiosity. I've never had a Julian bottling I didn't enjoy.

[TNbourbon]

I'm pretty sure that Julian started using Bernheim whiskey in Lot B in July 2005, so that could explain it. But, since neither one of them has ever been a "Pappy" -- they are simply Van Winkle Special Reserve Lot B -- I don't know that I'd expect the distributor to correctly note that difference anyway, since even the name's not right.

[tritioch]

I'm pretty sure that Julian started using Bernheim whiskey in Lot B in July 2005, so that could explain it.

Thank you!

That most probably explains the difference on the invoice. Any idea what Julian was using prior to July 05?

[barturtle]

There may be a chance that Van Winkle changed distributors in NY, also it seems recently there were a number of changes in the system there that may have resulted in some sort of renaming scheme in the computers.

It could even be something as simple as the inventory person at the store not knowing the normal item naming and adding in a new one when new stock arrived.

I don't know of there having been a UPC code change following the change in stocks to account for it, though there could have been a change in codes when botling wqas switched to BT, but even that seems unlikely.

[cowdery]

Another possibility, depending on the distributor's systems, is that this represents two shipments received by the distributor at different times and therefore entered at different times and mistakenly entered under two different names. What you saw probably represents the last of the original lot in the distributor's inventory, with the order being completed from the newer inventory. This theory is borne out by the two bottling dates. In other words, I suspect an error or system anomoly at the distributor, not some actual effort on the part of Van Winkle/Buffalo Trace to convey a product difference.