My First Glass of Pappy 23 Year Old

[Don_Draper]

Out at the Kentucky Bourbon Fest. Stumbled into a restaurant that would give you a glass of 23 year old PVW for $50. Well, I have never had it so finally decided what the heck (goes for $95 a glass in DC). First, I was shocked out how smooth it was. At 23 years it should be, but that doesnt mean it wasnt wonderful to feel. Was it the best I have ever had? No. But it is very good. Like most of you guys have said, you can get good stuff for a lot cheaper. I picked up a $7 bottle of Heaven Hill that is damn good. Not quite as good as PVW but at $7 it is a steal. Which begs the question what is behind all the PVW hype? Is it merely bc they have smartly made it so limited?

[squire]

It makes people feel exclusive and bolsters their sense of self worth.

[JVande]

Try the 15 year. Yeah, it's worth every penny if you can find it at the suggested retail price of just under $100/bottle. No hype there...

[hn4bourbon]

Try the 15 year. Yeah, it's worth every penny if you can find it at the suggested retail price of just under $100/bottle. No hype there...

[Don_Draper]

Try the 15 year. Yeah, it's worth every penny if you can find it at the suggested retail price of just under $100/bottle. No hype there...

[Trey Manthey]

It's not hard to find, especially in a bar. It's just a wheated bourbon, nothing magical. If you're anything like I was, you'll decide to shell out for a bottle or a glass and with expectations high, take your first hesitant sip, waiting for waves of pleasure to wash over you. Then you'll realize that it's pretty much like any other decent bourbon, but with a reputation inflated by television, celebrity chefs, and internet wankers. Then again, you might feel the need to justify your purchase by gushing about how amazing your experience was to anyone that will listen. But based on your post above I'm guessing you're the former type of person.

[Don_Draper]

Oh I like PVW for sure and if I found a 15 year for $100 I would sure buy it. But I have yet to find anywhere I could get a bottle. Im not willing to be gouged by the restaurants and bars. Ill drink a solid pour of something cheaper. But I have never seen a bottle of 15 on sale anywhere. We have been to every liquor store here in Bardstown and no one has any Pappy for sale.

[squire]

As long as a product can hold the public imagination it doesn't really have to be the best.

[MauiSon]

It's not hard to find, especially in a bar. It's just a wheated bourbon, nothing magical. If you're anything like I was, you'll decide to shell out for a bottle or a glass and with expectations high, take your first hesitant sip, waiting for waves of pleasure to wash over you. Then you'll realize that it's pretty much like any other decent bourbon, but with a reputation inflated by television, celebrity chefs, and internet wankers. Then again, you might feel the need to justify your purchase by gushing about how amazing your experience was to anyone that will listen. But based on your post above I'm guessing you're the former type of person.

[sutton]

Should we talk price inflation? I got my one and only PVW 15, has a bottle code of 2008 and as best the rumor mill can discern, it is SW. Haven't opened it. I paid $64 in 2011. Let the games begin ...

[393foureyedfox]

squire and trey nailed it.

and i love the derogatory name 'wankers'. it is so comically insulting

[KCJason1]

Should we talk price inflation? I got my one and only PVW 15, has a bottle code of 2008 and as best the rumor mill can discern, it is SW. Haven't opened it. I paid $64 in 2011. Let the games begin ...

Word... The they are cheap by me I'd you can get them.

15yr $65

20yr $112

23yr $220ish

[z327]

Interesting opinions on high priced PVW. I was concerned the hype was affecting my taste buds so I let a coue of Bourbon lovers who had never had any age PVW try some without even hinting at what it was and both said it was the best bourbon they've ever tried. So as usual it's all in the taste buds of the beholder.

[fussychicken]

Pappy van Wankers seems like a fitting name for it now.

Sad to see something that was once the pride of the bourbon industry become the epitome of everything that is now wrong with it.

[tigerlam92]

Pappy van Wankers seems like a fitting name for it now.

Sad to see something that was once the pride of the bourbon industry become the epitome of everything that is now wrong with it.

If this is targeted to the Van Winkles, I don't think it is fitting to be this rude.

If some are priced out because of the market dynamics then there are other choices.

Let's just enjoy a drink.

[mbroo5880i]

Interesting opinions on high priced PVW. I was concerned the hype was affecting my taste buds so I let a coue of Bourbon lovers who had never had any age PVW try some without even hinting at what it was and both said it was the best bourbon they've ever tried. So as usual it's all in the taste buds of the beholder.

This is the fair test. You must be a pretty good friend to share such a highly regarded pour with others. Just think, they thought it was the best bourbon that they ever tried. Whether others agree or not is irrelevant. It is what they thought. I enjoy sharing good experiences with others. You, my friend, are a true bourbonite! Happy pours!

[Guest]

I heard Pappy Van Winkle is actually aged chuck norris sweat

Which explains the supply crisis

[theglobalguy]

As long as a product can hold the public imagination it doesn't really have to be the best.

And who's about to admit a $500+ bottle they bought in shady ways isn't what they expected. No chance, both sunk cost and ego would kick in only to relate as better than unicorn sweat.

[GaryT]

It is very well marketed, and the "limited supply" makes everyone assume it is the best stuff ever bottled. Only bottle I ever bought was a PVW20 in 2011, and while it was nice - I'll never spend that kind of coin on it again - too much other stuff that I like more for a whole lot less. Then again, I've also learned more about my taste (which lean towards the rye-side). But my expectations were that PVW would be near orgasmic, which is too much to expect from a whiskey

[WhiskyRI]

"Pappy Van Wankers".....That made me laugh. I have mixed feelings. Here's my perspective, I was a bourbon drinker from far too young an age but wasn't serious about it. Started with JB because well that was what my parents had. Moved onto MM in college and transitioned to KC and Bookers in the Navy. I regularly drank bourbon but also drank other stuff and usually only had a single bottle of Bourbon in the house (boy those days are long gone – my most recent inventory had over 40 bottles open and another 100+ on the shelves).

I bought my first bottles of Pappy on Black Friday 2011 - when my local store put them "on sale" Black Friday morning. I had never heard of Pappy and asked 'why the hubbub'?. My guys at the store just said people go crazy for it - I asked "is it worth it'. And their response was they didn't know they've never had it. So on a whim I went down to the store and happened to be 8th in line. When the store opened there were over 50 people in line. I got up the counter and there was one bottle of 12, one bottle of 20 and 3 bottles of 23 left. I bought the 12 for $56 and the 20 for $105. (Most I had ever spent on a bottle of anything).

I decided to open both of them up that evening with my neighbors – who didn’t know the prices. We tried the 12 neat and our verdict was boy that’s tasty. We tried the 20 and I was like wow – it really was a different beast. Needless to say that night is in my rear-view mirror by a long shot. I’ve since acquired quite a few more bottles through dumb luck. My most recent, and probably last bottle, was a 23 I bought a few weeks ago because I was asking about Stagg and WLW. The manager of a store I visit occasionally said ‘I don’t have any Stagg but I do have a Pappy 23 if you want that’? After picking up my jaw, I said sure if you don’t mind. Of course the price wasn’t $100 – it was $295. Gauging to be sure but it was there and they weren’t being too ridiculous.

Not sure what I’ll do with it. I haven’t ever flipped a bottle of anything but the silly prices sure do make one think about it. Although Bourbon prices are still ‘cheap’ compared to Malt whisky prices. I’m of mixed mind about it – it seems like the BTAC bottles are the new Pappy- as far as availability and unmet demand go. I do remember my first taste of WLW – wow that was something.

I’m still in the new toy phase of my whisky life in a lot of ways – in a very short period of time I’ve acquired a significant amount of whisky (Malt, Bourbon, and Rye) and have learned a lot. The monthly tastings I run have helped make it affordable and provided some structure. Now I’m buying stuff mostly because it is available, it is limited and I’ll want it in the future. Dusty hunting is mostly fruitless here in the NE – sure I get lucky here or there but I’ve been to most of the stores within 100 miles and bought what I wanted. Recently I’ve been slowing down my purchases and filling in gaps here or there but for the occasional windfall.

So I won’t begrudge the “Pappy Van Wankers”, after all you have to start somewhere.

[z327]

This is the fair test. You must be a pretty good friend to share such a highly regarded pour with others. Just think, they thought it was the best bourbon that they ever tried. Whether others agree or not is irrelevant. It is what they thought. I enjoy sharing good experiences with others. You, my friend, are a true bourbonite! Happy pours!

I too find the sharing and amazement of others to be a big part of what I enjoy about this hobby. I admit I won't pass out shots of PVW to novices and my friends who prefer beer over whiskey. We did blind tasting with W12 and VWFR Lot B and only half of us had good enough pallets to think they were discernible and guess which was which correctly. Opening a slightly easier to find FRSBLE 10, 11, or 12 and sharing with real enthusiasts is just as fun as PVW and much less expensive.

its not just the rarity that I and a select few really enjoy. Everyday pours like ETL or any number of others are shared and enjoyed when we gather.

[CL]

Should we talk price inflation? I got my one and only PVW 15, has a bottle code of 2008 and as best the rumor mill can discern, it is SW. Haven't opened it. I paid $64 in 2011. Let the games begin ...

When I started getting into bourbon extensively about 2002/2003, ORVW15 (no Pappy 15 then) was $35 and was almost always on the shelf. I absolutely loved it. My other two favorites, VWSR 12 Lot B and VWFRR, were in that price ball park. Sigh, those were the days. (ORVW 10 was about $25.)

And you know what? I rationed those bottles because then $35 was a lot to pay. Outside the 20 and 23 year Pappys and the Hirschs, the most expensive retail bottle was GTS at $50.

[squire]

Yes, and they were correspondingly cheaper ten years earlier in the 90s . . . I blame the internet.

[Guy Debord]

Not sure if it is true, but I heard at one time Maker's Mark was a very exclusive bourbon outside of KY? Some say that Wall Street stock brokers in the 1980s would pay top dollar to obtain bottles and buy sips of it at bars. Apparently bourbon was not very popular then and those who cared knew that the best bourbon came from KY and that Maker's doesn't burn so much going down.

Low supply / hard to find / mythology can cause high demand, high demand means high prices, high prices makes people feel as though they are having a "unique experience" with the product.

If there was plenty to go around and it was priced at $75 a bottle, Pappy Van Winkle would be just another bourbon that everyone says is over priced. The famous line on SB is "You can find great pours for less." Is what it is.

[Restaurant man]

I think the pappy bashing is not warranted. It's great whiskey whose price has been pushed up by demand. Even if the demand is more of a thoughtless frenzy. If the price is too high then pass. The retail prices are inline with the market. Might even be way too low considering the demand. Certainly the van winkles should be praised for their contribution to the bourbon scene. Not condemned. Don't just piss on it cause you can't get a bottle. Or don't think it's "worth" the hype.