One of the world’s most sought-after premium-aged bourbon whiskey brands, Pappy Van Winkle has established a reputation for quality and rarity. The coveted whiskey brand first debuted in 1994, when the Pappy Van Winkle 20 Year Old was released. Despite this, the brand’s origins began in the late 1800s, when the Van Winkle family first entered the bourbon industry.
The astonishing history of Pappy Van Winkle is the story of an enduring commitment to making quality whiskey, against the challenges of Prohibition, transferring distillery production, and bourbon thefts. These are three fascinating stories from Pappy Van Winkle’s history.
The Van Winkle Family Legacy and Prohibition Survival
Pappy Van Winkle’s rich history starts with the brand’s namesake and founder, Julian Prentice ‘Pappy’ Van Winkle. Van Winkle’s involvement in the bourbon industry began in 1893 when he was hired as a traveling salesman for a liquor wholesale company, W.L. Weller & Sons. By 1903, Van Winkle and fellow salesman, Alex T. Farnsley had purchased the controlling interest in W.L. Weller & Sons, subsequently acquiring the controlling share in the A. Ph. Stitzel distillery, the main supplier of whiskey for Weller’s brands in 1910.
When American Prohibition prohibiting the manufacture and sale of ‘intoxicating beverages’ in the United States passed into federal law on the 17th of January 1920, the majority of distilleries closed overnight. The A. Ph. Stitzel distillery was one of only six distilleries in the United States permitted to continue operating during Prohibition, due to obtaining a license to produce medicinal whiskey. Van Winkle used the W.L. Weller & Sons distribution network to sell Stitzel whiskey to pharmacies for ‘medicinal prescription’. When Prohibition ended in 1933, Van Winkle and Farnsley partnered with Arthur Stitzel, opening the new Stitzel-Weller distillery on Kentucky Derby Day, May 1935.
The Stitzel-Weller distillery passed entirely into the control of the Van Winkles from 1948, remaining under the family’s ownership until 1972, when Pappy’s son, Julian Van Winkle Jr. was forced into the reluctant sale of the distillery and its brands. Demonstrating a persisting resilience and dedication to the craft of whiskey-making, Julian Van Winkle III began independently releasing a series of bourbons from 1984 onwards – the ‘Van Winkle Family Reserve’ range. In 1994, Van Winkle III released the first premium 20 Year Old bourbon, featuring a photo of his grandfather, Julian Prentice ‘Pappy’ Van Winkle Sr. on the label, the first Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve expression – ensuring the family’s bourbon industry legacy.
The Journey to Perfection
The renowned reputation earned by Pappy Van Winkle’s bourbon originates from the philosophy of Julian Prentice ‘Pappy’ Van Winkle, who famously declared, “We make fine bourbon. At a profit if we can, at a loss if we must, but always fine bourbon”.
When the Stitzel-Weller distillery commenced production in 1935, Van Winkle as company president determined that it would only produce wheated bourbon whiskey, using the Stitzel family’s traditional mash recipe. Legally, all bourbon must be made from at least 51% corn, and also typically uses between 5-10% malted barley. Often, the rest of the mash bill uses rye, but the Stitzel-Weller distillery unconventionally instead used wheat which is a softer flavoring grain, producing a sweeter, smoother, more accessible bourbon.
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Van Winkle’s decision to adopt the more costly and time-intensive wheated bourbon mash recipe method in the era of the Great Depression and economic downturn began the defining narrative of the brand – a dedication to quality over quantity. This tradition has been continued by the Van Winkle family, who continue to use the original wheated bourbon mash recipe – even transferring distillery production when Stitzel-Weller closed in 1992. From May 2002, a newly established partnership with Buffalo Trace led all Van Winkle brand production from grain to bottling to be undertaken at the distillery.
At Buffalo Trace, all Pappy Van Winkle is produced using the traditional wheated mash recipe, made with the Red Winter wheat variety, and aged on the lower floors of Buffalo Trace’s rack house, ensuring a consistently cooler temperature. The interaction between aging whiskey and barrel wood is slower, allowing a longer maturation. The Pappy Van Winkle batch size is tiny, combining only 5-6 barrels to produce 7000 bottles – ensuring the consistent quality of the brand.
The ‘Pappygate’ Mystery
In October 2013, Buffalo Trace reported 65 cases of Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve 20-Year-Old, and 9 cases of Van Winkle’s 13-Year-Old Family Reserve Rye, were missing from the distillery, a theft of more than 200 bottles. As the retail value of the stolen bottles was estimated at $26,000 (and up to $100,000 on the black market), the incident quickly attracted attention and was nicknamed ‘Pappygate’ on social media.
With no evidence of a break-in or intruders captured on the distillery’s security cameras, authorities quickly suspected an ‘inside job’, leading the Franklin County sheriff’s department to interview over 100 Buffalo Trace employees. The investigation stalled until March 2014, when an anonymous tip reported seeing whiskey barrels at the home of Gilbert “Toby” Curtsinger – a Buffalo Trace employee.
A search of Curtsinger’s home uncovered five barrels of bourbon, but this whiskey was found not to have been distilled at Buffalo Trace, instead containing premium bourbon produced by Wild Turkey, which hadn’t reported any whiskey missing – and had a combined value of $30,000. Although authorities did not locate any of the stolen Pappy Van Winkle, Curtsinger’s phone messages implied knowledge of the theft. On April 21st, 2015, Curtsinger and nine others were arrested on charges of operating a criminal syndicate trafficking bourbon.
As the alleged mastermind, Curtsinger was the only person sentenced and initially faced 15 years in prison but was only incarcerated for 30 days due to the shock probation program. Only 26 bottles of the missing Pappy Van Winkle were ever recovered from Curtsinger’s alleged customers. While Curtsinger later presented his side of events in Netflix’s documentary series ‘Heist’, he continued to protest his innocence regarding the Pappygate thefts. The truth will likely never be known, but the remaining missing bottles of Pappy Van Winkle are almost certainly long gone.