Very Olde St Nick 17 Year (Preservation Distillery) - Is it really SW???

[greatgoo]

Searched the forum and didn't find a particular topic on this. Curious on everyone's thoughts if the VOSN 17 from Preservation Distillery is actually vatted SW whiskey. 

 

Supposedly Marci Palatella, the owner of this brand, was buying Stitzel-Weller barrels and bottling them under the Olde St. Nick brand in the 90s and shipping them off to Japanese markets. I have also been told by a couple of people that she’s been sitting on a lot of 1981 distilled bourbon that was vatted in 1998. So this VOSN 17 is a 17 year old SW whiskey that has been sitting in a vat for 21-22 years and paying taxes on it? Holy smokes! But why hold onto the whiskey that long? I assume there is no NDA so why not put SW on the labeling?

 

I have tasted the first batch and I will admit it is very tasty. Also, very dark, maybe because of oxidation in the vat for over two decades? 

 

Curious on everyone's take.

 

Cheers! 

Ryan

Edited September 3, 2020 by greatgoo

[JCwhammie]

I have absolutely no knowledge of this bourbon, but I highly doubt there's more than a trace of SW in there. Someone would be out of their mind to have a sub $200 price tag on 17 yr SW bourbon. They could easily fetch >$1,500 for a bottle of that. 

[sbsbsb]

Agree with JCwhammie here...if it's SW, they would proudly display DSP-KY-16 on the label, state as such, and charge an arm & leg for it. 

[greatgoo]

It is currently $633 for a 375ml bottle. So not exactly a bargain price. Hahaha

[PhantomLamb]

Is it actually SW distillate though?

[smokinjoe]

8 hours ago, greatgoo said:

Searched the forum and didn't find a particular topic on this. Curious on everyone's thoughts if the VOSN 17 from Preservation Distillery is actually vatted SW whiskey. 

 

Supposedly Marci Palatella, the owner of this brand, was buying Stitzel-Weller barrels and bottling them under the Olde St. Nick brand in the 90s and shipping them off to Japanese markets. I have also been told by a couple of people that she’s been sitting on a lot of 1981 distilled bourbon that was vatted in 1998. So this VOSN 17 is a 17 year old SW whiskey that has been sitting in a vat for 21-22 years and paying taxes on it? Holy smokes! But why hold onto the whiskey that long? I assume there is no NDA so why not put SW on the labeling?

 

I have tasted the first batch and I will admit it is very tasty. Also, very dark, maybe because of oxidation in the vat for over two decades? 

 

Curious on everyone's take.

 

Cheers! 

Ryan

You have presented some questions, have the stories, and have tasted the whiskey.  What is your take? 

[greatgoo]

44 minutes ago, smokinjoe said:

You have presented some questions, have the stories, and have tasted the whiskey.  What is your take? 

Rationally I don't think it is SW. 21 years tanking of a SW whiskey? Seems very hard to believe. However, the whiskey is very good and does have the cherry cola notes of a SW. Also, the whiskey is incredibly dark which might be explained by a very long period in a vat? I don't know what to believe. I was hoping someone in the group might know more of the story. 

[mal00768]

Why would the whisky darken while in the vat? I would expect color change to happen only in the barrel.

Edited September 4, 2020 by mal00768

[PaulO]

Yeah, it's interesting to speculate.  Over the years, there have been many discussions about whether or not some non distiller producer brand was really distilled by SW before it closed.  Let's see, I remember this coming up with: VW, Willett, Jefferson's, Vintage 17, and probably others.  Then we also had SW selling brands to other companies, and supplying some full barrels as part of the deal.  At some point the new owner switched over to their own make.

Personally, I'm not going to spend a fortune on mystery whiskey.

Also consider, anything that is aged an unusually long time - the barrel influence takes over.  That's what you will be tasting.

I've tried Old Fitz Prime, and Very Old Fitz 12 year made by SW.  They were tasty, but I wouldn't call it the be all and end all bourbon experience.  Back in the day, when they were in production, SW was respected, a legacy distiller, but not above everyone else.  

[dad-proof]

Can't speak to this bottling, but am fairly sure that the Olde Saint Nick export bottlings from years ago were indeed from SW. I am inclined to believe them that this is tanked SW. That said, not everything SW distilled was made or aged to the level of the legendary Hirsch and OG Pappy. 

 

Cool that you got to try it, and glad to read your notes on it!

[BottledInBond]

More than 20 years ago JVW bottled the OSN products on contract for the NDP. At that time there may have been some SW juice in some of the products, but SW was already shuttered and who knows for sure as JVW has confirmed many times that producers frequently bought/sold barrels to each other in those days. People also forget that PVW products haven’t always even been wheaters, as it is fairly widely known that there were early VW products with rye recipe bourbon in them. 
 

OSN products were bottled by KBD (Willett) for a while and during that era were unlikely to contain any SW juice. JVW indicates that it was likely HH juice during that era. Today the company that owns the OSN product line has built their own facility, Preservation Distillery. But that place is less than 5 years old, so current OSN products are still sourced. 
 

The “mystery woman from California” is Marci Palatella.

 

Some SB archives reading can be fun once in a while: 

 

Put me in the camp that is extremely skeptical that there is any SW juice in the current products. I’ve certainly been wrong before and will be again, but if it was legit SW they could charge $1k or more for a 375 and get it in today’s world. 

[Bourbon Boiler]

I won't claim to know the history, but it is good enough to be SW, but a terrible lack of market awareness and pricing if in fact it is.  Our whiskey club really enjoyed this bottle.  Very Olde St. Nick and Creak of Kentucky are our two fastest emptys.  

[0895]

20 hours ago, Bourbon Boiler said:

and Creak of Kentucky are our two fastest emptys.  

 

"sounds" interesting

[Bourbon Boiler]

2 hours ago, 0895 said:

 

"sounds" interesting

Bourbon can really affect the typing, huh.  "Cream" instead of "Creak" for anyone following the thread confused.  

[0895]

47 minutes ago, Bourbon Boiler said:

Bourbon can really affect the typing, huh.  "Cream" instead of "Creak" for anyone following the thread confused.  

Im not one to let anyone off the hook...

[fishnbowljoe]

5 minutes ago, 0895 said:

Im not one to let anyone off the hook...

Must be a Mizou thang. Between you and Clueby, no one stands a chance.
 

Biba! Joe

[0895]

4 minutes ago, fishnbowljoe said:

Must be a Mizou thang. Between you and Clueby, no one stands a chance.
 

Biba! Joe

It’s a German thing.

Nobody gets any slack from me.

But I expect the same in return.

Gotta be tough!

[parksmart]

2 hours ago, Bourbon Boiler said:

Bourbon can really affect the typing, huh.  "Cream" instead of "Creak" for anyone following the thread confused.  

Thought it was some Americanization of the Irish “the craic”.....

[mbroo5880i]

2 hours ago, Bourbon Boiler said:

Bourbon can really affect the typing, huh.  "Cream" instead of "Creak" for anyone following the thread confused.  

C'mon man, any good Hoosier knows it would be "Crick of Kentucky."

[Bourbon Boiler]

Crick for fishin', Cream for drinkin'.  

[geclbxf]

Stopped into Preservation on Saturday, and they are flat out claiming that it is tanked SW that Marci waited for the "right market time" to release again.

They claimed to have a few dozen behind the counter of the  VOSN 17 years (called OG), and another dozen of some other lost barrel 17 VOSN.   I was going to take a picture and they said they preferred no pictures, what????

 

Several bottles sold in the brief time I was looking around to several different people.   Seemed to be an internet buzz or something where people were wandering in and asking for it.   I could not find anything in my google work.

 

Very interesting

[BDanner]

On 6/13/2021 at 9:05 AM, geclbxf said:

Stopped into Preservation on Saturday, and they are flat out claiming that it is tanked SW that Marci waited for the "right market time" to release again.

They claimed to have a few dozen behind the counter of the  VOSN 17 years (called OG), and another dozen of some other lost barrel 17 VOSN.   I was going to take a picture and they said they preferred no pictures, what????

 

Several bottles sold in the brief time I was looking around to several different people.   Seemed to be an internet buzz or something where people were wandering in and asking for it.   I could not find anything in my google work.

 

Very interesting

She was also charged in the recent college admissions scandal, so I'd take any of her claims with a grain of salt.

[Paddy]

I’ve got a bridge…

[PaulO]

About six months ago, I noticed some VOSN bottles in the glass case of a local store.  Zero interest on my part.