Van Winkle Selection Pot Still Bourbon 17 years old

[Edward_call_me_Ed]

Hello Everyone,

Has anyone else heard of this? I had it at a bar last night.

The nose was wonderful, the first taste, superlative.

As I drank it I noticed cherries, orange, deep char and some smoke. A sweetness that I couldn't really place. Perhaps it was a bit too old. There was an earthy/musty note that, at least as a first pour, detracted from the whole. Perhaps with more experience this would become something to savor, I don't know.

The finish was long and flawless. I didn't want to order a new pour, I wanted the finish to go on and on.

Ed

[Rughi]

Now _this_ looks really, really cool.

Does it resemble any other product that Julian used to bottle at the Lawrenceburg plant? Especially one that claimed a pot still heritage?

I'm going on memory, but I seem to remember reading in "But Always Fine Bourbon" about a flood in Julian's distillery. Does that label look like it has pretty strong water marks on it in person?

[FlashPuppy]

I find this most interesting. I hope that Julian will chime in and shed a little light on this.

[Gillman]

It is interesting how many idiosyncratic bourbons have popped out of the Van Winkle portfolio, and they keep coming! Even Julian has to pause I think sometimes to remember the provenance! My guess on this one is it is from the Hirsch Michter's stock. Yet, I've always wondered if a true pot-stilled bourbon (i.e., using Scots-style wash and spirit stills) was still being produced somewhere up into the 1970's or so and this is a rare example.

Gary

[Edward_call_me_Ed]

It is interesting how many idiosyncratic bourbons have popped out of the Van Winkle portfolio, and they keep coming! Even Julian has to pause I think sometimes to remember the provenance! My guess on this one is it is from the Hirsch Michter's stock. Yet, I've always wondered if a true pot-stilled bourbon (i.e., using Scots-style wash and spirit stills) was still being produced somewhere up into the 1970's or so and this is a rare example.

Gary

I think you are right Gary. In the bar there are two more bottles with very similar labels except that they say Hirsch instead of Van Winkle. They are both younger and, as yet, untasted.

Ed

[TNbourbon]

...My guess on this one is it is from the Hirsch Michter's stock...

That, too, was my first thought. Much seems to have been made of the 'pot still' quasi-connection regarding those barrels, and nobody else seems to have been making such a claim then.

[doubleblank]

Gary is right about Julian's many bottlings. He often has to pause to even recall doing many of them, much less remember what whiskey went into it. Here's another 17yo he did that went to Japan. This one is a younger version of the original Pappy 20 from the Boone Distillery. He did bottle a lot of different versions of the Hirsch and may have done this one under his name. He did bottle Michters under names other than Hirsch, but this would be the first one I've seen using Michter's whiskey under his name. Here's a pic of my 17yo.

Randy

[jvanwinkle]

We bottled that VW Selection in October of 1990. I bottled this for Gordon Hue of Cork & Bottle. It was all shipped to their Japan customer. And it was Hirsch bourbon. (I had to look all this up). Thankfully I kept all the bottling records from Lawrenceburg.

We would not have put on any stained labels. That staining on the label must have happened after we shipped it. Total production was 96 cases.

Julian

[Edward_call_me_Ed]

Thanks Julian!

Ed