Van Winkle Family Reserve 13 rye

[unclebunk]

I only have one left and no chance of getting any more now that I'm in Canada. I promised myself I wouldn't open it until I get another... and I do look longingly at it. UncleBunk, is the Michter 10 really good?

Yes, James. The Michter's 10 Year Old Rye (not to be confused with the Michter's US1 Rye) is excellent but unfortunately quite pricey. The juice is considerably older than 10 years, as has been established in other threads concerning this product, so it compares well to Sazerac 18 despite obvious differences in character.

[nblair]

Did anyone else who picked up a new bottle this past week notice the lettering started back at 'A' again? It was a few miles from my house so I highly doubt it was sitting there for any extended period of time.

[Vange]

They went back to A on the new release if I am not mistaken

[The Boozer]

The VWFRR is definitely tricky to find, at least around here. But I did snag one on Monday for $40 and still have two in the bunker. Hooray!

[SMOWK]

All of the bottles I've picked up in the last year or so have an "A" on them.

[The Boozer]

Still can't find this stuff anywhere, A letter or B thru I letters. :smiley_acbt: :hot: :banghead:

[The Boozer]

Patience. I must learn patience.

Well it finally paid off. Picked up two bottles of VWFRR today for about $60 /bottle. Was down to the last bottle and starting getting nervous. I think I should open one immediately and take the edge off. :grin:

[The Boozer]

Forgot to mention the 2 bottles I picked up are also labeled "A".

[sailor22]

A is the current release. Not sure why they started over.

[The Boozer]

Is the current release still the older aged tanked stuff? I recall another post in which Julian stated all the VWFRR was left over aged rye that they finally tanked. The more recent bottles actually have rye that's been aged 18-19 years. ???

[callmeox]

A is the current release. Not sure why they started over.

According to Julian in post 35 in this thread, they started over with A in 2008.

Apparently they printed lots of labels as they are still at A in 2010. It looks like the label lettering is no longer an indicator of the release year.

[The Boozer]

Correction, both my bottles start with "B".

[BourbonJoe]

Is that the new "B" or the second U.S. release "B"?

Joe :usflag:

[The Boozer]

Is that the new "B" or the second U.S. release "B"?

Joe :usflag:

Don't know. Is there something on the bottle that indicates one or the other? These are two bottle that I just picked up the other day.

[barturtle]

Don't know. Is there something on the bottle that indicates one or the other? These are two bottle that I just picked up the other day.

[The Boozer]

Thnaks Tim. I believe this would be the 2nd release. The store I purchased the bottles from has a high turn over and didn't have any for at least the last 6 months.

[The Boozer]

Out in the field today. After doing a building inspection, stopped by a party store over on the east side. Just looking to pick up a bottle of WT 101. Sitting on the shelf were three bottles of VWFRR. I was taken aback! First because I found VWFRR and 2nd this is Tony's (ACDetroit) backyard. Anyways, two bottles have made their way home with me and I left 1 bottle for Tony (or any other MI hounds). My 2nd surprise came when I took a closer look at the bottles and saw they are both "I" bottles. I have had this experience before. Recently picked up a bottle of Stagg and much to my surprise in turns out to be a 2009 bottling. Apparently, there are older bottles of BTAC, VWFRR and likely Pappy 15 yr sitting in some distributor's warehouse. I highly doubt that some of these bottles have been sitting on store shelves for over a year.

[cowdery]

That's an exciting find. Were they reasonably priced?

I think the natural incompetence of any system run by a government is probably a benefit to dusty hunters. In Illinois, stores can't transfer bottles between stores, even of the same chain, nor can they sell product back to the distributor. Once it's in the store they either have to sell it or drink it.

[Special Reserve]

Out in the field today. After doing a building inspection, stopped by a party store over on the east side. Just looking to pick up a bottle of WT 101. Sitting on the shelf were three bottles of VWFRR. I was taken aback! First because I found VWFRR and 2nd this is Tony's (ACDetroit) backyard. Anyways, two bottles have made their way home with me and I left 1 bottle for Tony (or any other MI hounds). My 2nd surprise came when I took a closer look at the bottles and saw they are both "I" bottles. I have had this experience before. Recently picked up a bottle of Stagg and much to my surprise in turns out to be a 2009 bottling. Apparently, there are older bottles of BTAC, VWFRR and likely Pappy 15 yr sitting in some distributor's warehouse. I highly doubt that some of these bottles have been sitting on store shelves for over a year.

TB,

I've had similar experiences. Recently I found a WLW 117.9 that was not in the store on many earlier visits. Also in the recent past, I found old (cheesy gold medallion style) RHF and of all things a gold veined OWA that the store owner insisted just came in "this week" and had absolutely no dust on the bottle.

Will

[The Boozer]

That's an exciting find. Were they reasonably priced?

I think the natural incompetence of any system run by a government is probably a benefit to dusty hunters. In Illinois, stores can't transfer bottles between stores, even of the same chain, nor can they sell product back to the distributor. Once it's in the store they either have to sell it or drink it.

Chuck, they were priced @ the State min of $59 and change. Store advertized State minimum price which is the reason I stopped. Had a similar experience last year when I found 3 bottles of WLW. Thought they were all 2009. Nope; 05', 07' and 08'. Got those at the State min price also.

[roostercogburn]

Chuck, they were priced @ the State min of $59 and change. Store advertized State minimum price which is the reason I stopped. Had a similar experience last year when I found 3 bottles of WLW. Thought they were all 2009. Nope; 05', 07' and 08'. Got those at the State min price also.

Really good find, Boozer. I'm still kicking myself for passing on what seems to be the last two bottles in the Dallas area (for 59.99 too!), which were picked within days of my passing them up. Valuable lesson learned.

[unclebunk]

TB,

I've had similar experiences. Recently I found a WLW 117.9 that was not in the store on many earlier visits. Also in the recent past, I found old (cheesy gold medallion style) RHF and of all things a gold veined OWA that the store owner insisted just came in "this week" and had absolutely no dust on the bottle.

Will

Hmm...time to re-visit all those stores I checked out last year. Who knows what may (re)appear?

[Parkersback]

Any tasting notes on these new bottles would be mighty welcome.

[BBQ+Bourbon]

After reading this thread, I checked the two bottles of in my cabinet for both the hand written date and the printed julian date. The first bottle, purchased fall of 09 is marked NoA3875 while the printed date is K2590914:26. I'd interpret that to say it was bottled on the 259th day of 09 at 2:26pm which jives with the time of purchase. The second bottle is marked No.B4246 and the julian date is N2771011:23 which seems to indicate it was bottled on the 277th day of '10 which also jives with the timeframe in which I found the bottle.

Also, the UPC of the first bottle is applied OVER the printed date on the bottle. I had to scrape it off to read the julian date.

[Beer&Bourbon]

The bottle I got the other day is also a new B bottle. When I first popped it I got lots of caramel corn with oak and lots of rye spiciness on the tail - the rye spiciness that I've long searched for.

Right now I'm picking up lots of caramel corn and vanilla on the nose. There's a good amount of citrus on the nose that really comes out on the tongue as well. Oddly this isn't something I particularly noticed on my last few go arounds.