Vintage Bourbon

Produced in Cuba in the 1940s-1950s (Imported to the US before the 1962 embargo on Cuban products)

Imported by Granada Wines (Cambridge, Massachusetts)

Iconic original Stitzel Weller mashbill of the Pappy Van Winkle 20.  This bottle is truly a unicorn as it was barreled in 1989 just as Van Winkle was on its rise.   No other bourbon today can stand 20 years of aging, but this bourbon does it with style. Pappy Van Winkle was a true character. This bourbon, like Pappy, is full of the character that makes it a very special whiskey

One of the last years that Pappy Van Winkle 23 was bottled using Stitzel-Weller juice before Buffalo Trace began using its own barrels for producing Pappy Van Winkle.

Back in the 1960s through the 80s, distilleries were having trouble selling their whiskey in bottles so they started creating unique bottlings through the use of Decanters. Old Crow, which was owned and produced by National Distillers created a full chess set of decanter bottles, complete with all pieces and the ability to send them postage to receive a carpeted chessboard as well. The whiskey inside is 86pf and age stated 10 years, but is among some of the highest rated whiskey by vintage enthusiasts that has ever been produced.

Note: Old decanters could possibly have some minor leakage during transit.  We will do everything to prevent leakage but some is frequently expected and we cannot be held liable for minor leakage.  Major issues - please contact us (such as decanter breakage, significant leakage) and please have pictures/video available.  

A fantastic old bottling of Weller's Antique Reserve, aged 10 years and bottled at a barrel proof of 110. Distilled and then bottled at the legendary Stizel-Weller distillery, and given the age statement, likely from stock produced by Julian Van Winkle I before his death in the mid-1960's.  The fill level shown is fairly standard for these bottlings and as we have a few available some might have a slightly better fill than what is shown.   Old bottles can unfortunately have some leakage due to old corks and seals.   We will do our best to prevent any leaking in transit however minor leaks can happen.  

Back in the 1960s through the 80s, distilleries were having trouble selling their whiskey in bottles so they started creating unique bottlings through the use of Decanters. Old Crow, which was owned and produced by National Distillers created a full chess set of decanter bottles, complete with all pieces and the ability to send them postage to receive a carpeted chessboard as well. The whiskey inside is 86pf and age stated 10 years, but is among some of the highest rated whiskey by vintage enthusiasts that has ever been produced.

Note: Old decanters could possibly have some minor leakage during transit.  We will do everything to prevent leakage but some is frequently expected and we cannot be held liable for minor leakage.  Major issues - please contact us (such as decanter breakage, significant leakage) and please have pictures/video available.  

Last Drop Distillers seeks to find and bring to life the rarest of the rare whiskeys, offering them in extremely limited quantities. Leather, aged oak, earthy, raisin, dark fruit, dark cherry and tobacco on the nose. The taste is the definition of flamboyant with an orchestra of flavors with each flavor harmoniously mingled. Delightful notes of figs, dates, maraschino cherries, wood, saddle leather, pipe tobacco, toffee, plums, raisins, walnuts, and butterscotch. It’s a virtual symphony on your palate.

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The first release of Van Winkle Family Rye that was distilled at the Medley distillery in Owensboro, Kentucky, in 1998 that was for Japanese export only. The first US release was not until 1999. After 1998, all Van Winkle Reserve Rye bottle numbers were preceded with a letter to signify they were US releases. This particular rye was bottled in 1998, which is unique, as that was a period when Van Winkle bottled in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, before they moved their operations to Frankfort, KY in 2002. Additionally this is a rare "green glass" bottle, as Van Winkle's last year of using handmade green glass for their bottles was 1999.

An incredibly rare offering from the Van Winkle family reserve. This was bottled in 1990 by Julian Van Winkle III. His father, Julian II, had retained an office at the old Stitzel-Weller distillery following his forced sale of it in the 1970s, but this hospitality was not extended to his son, who had to buy Hoffman distillery in 1983, re-naming it Old Commonwealth. There he bottled much of the best-regarded whiskey in America, including Nathan Stone's, Very Olde St. Nick, the A.H. Hirsch Reserve, and this, the Van Winkle Family Reserve. It is believed this Van Winkle family reserve bourbon was sourced from Boone distillery, where it was barreled in 1974. It was bottled twice: this one in 1990, and the next one at 17 years old in 1991. Both were intended for the Japanese market, who were at the time more willing to pay premium prices for well-aged bourbon. Van Winkle III continued to bottle at Old Commonwealth until 2002, when thinning stocks necessitated an agreement with the Sazerac company, who warehoused his remaining barrels, and produced limited quantities of Pappy Van Winkle Family Reserve on an annual basis until it finally ran out. It is now distilled at Buffalo Trace using Pappy's old recipe. These original bottles of Boone distilled Van Winkle reserves are incredibly rare and sought after in equal measure. Fun fact: Van Winkle has stated that he "got away" with using red wax here as Maker's Mark only held the trademark in the US.

In 1893, when he was 18 years old, Julian "Pappy" Van Winkle Sr. began working as a salesman for the liquor wholesaler, W.L. Weller & Sons. Fifteen years later, he and another Weller salesman bought the firm. In 1910 they acquired the A. Ph. Stitzel Distillery in Louisville, Kentucky, which had started as a sour mash whiskey distillery in 1872.

The Stitzel Distillery supplied much of the whiskey sold by the Weller wholesale firm. The consolidation coincided with prohibition, during which time the Stitzel-Weller firm was licensed by the government to produce whiskey for medicinal purposes. One of their labels that was introduced on the market just before prohibition was Old Rip Van Winkle. After prohibition, the brand was not reintroduced until after 1972 when the Stitzel-Weller distillery and its current brand names (including W. L. Weller, Old Fitzgerald, Rebel Yell, and Cabin Still) were sold to other companies.The only brand name the Van Winkle family had kept the rights to was the pre-prohibition brand Old Rip Van Winkle.

The Stitzel-Weller Distillery was opened on the day of the Kentucky Derby in 1935, just outside Louisville in Shively, Kentucky. At the time of his death in 1965 at the age of 89, Pappy Van Winkle was the oldest active distiller in the nation. A photo of him lighting a cigar graces the bottle's label.

Sometime after the Stitzel-Weller distillery was sold in 1972, Julian Van Winkle, Jr. resurrected the pre-prohibition Old Rip Van Winkle brand and initially used old whiskey stocks from the distillery for its bottlings. Julian Jr. died in 1981 and Julian Van Winkle, III (Pappy's grandson) took over the Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery company.

After the initial sale in 1972, the Stitzel-Weller distillery was eventually closed completely in 1991.

Since 2002, the Van Winkle brands have been distilled and bottled by the Sazerac Company at the Buffalo Trace Distillery as a joint venture with the Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery company.

In 2013, Julian Preston Van Winkle III, said the 2013 bottlings of the 23-year brand expression "may be the last of its kind", since at that point there was very little left of the aging stock from the Stitzel-Weller distillery (although he said the brand would not be discontinued). The makers say that they do not want to boost production, as there is considerable long-term risk, and they do not want to be left holding copious quantities of unsaleable bourbon should tastes, fashions or circumstances change.

The eighth batch of the famous Jefferson's Presidential Select bourbon.  This is 100% Stitzel-Weller distillate and one of the top rated expressions by both collectors and consumers.  Batch 7 was hand selected from the best tasting barrels and is the most rare batch from all of the Jefferson's releases.  This is a MUST have for any fan of Stitzel-Weller.

The second batch of the famous Jefferson's Presidential Select bourbon.  This is 100% Stitzel-Weller distillate and one of the top rated expressions by both collectors and consumers.  Batch 1 was the first release in the 17 and 18 year bottlings, hand selected from the best tasting barrels and is the most rare batch from all of the Jefferson's releases.  This is a MUST have for any fan of Stitzel-Weller.

IW Harper Bourbon. Box has tear at the top.

Wild Turkey 8 Year 101 from 1984 (glass stamp)

Jim Beam White Label Sour Mash bourbon from 1976. Comes with box. 

Maker's Mark from 1978

Old Grand Dad 86 proof from 1986 with box. 

Elijah Craig Barrel Proof

Old Squat Bottle

128.0 Proof

Batch 7

Vintage Bourbon 23 Year Old Bourbon Whiskey

Hairline crack in the wax - please see photos

There is a possibility of minor leaking during transit

2008 Pappy Van Winkle 20 750ml Stitzel Weller