Signed Van Winkle Whiskey Collection Put Up For Charity Auction

The Van Winkle family, the folks behind some of the most coveted American whiskeys on the market (in conjunction with Buffalo Trace), have decided to offer up a full collection of their bottlings for charity auction. The auction, which is live now, is set to run through Friday, May 8th.

The Pappy Auction includes all the regular bottlings in this bourbon collection – Old Rip Van Winkle 10 Year, Van Winkle Special Reserve 12 year, Pappy Van Winkle 15 Year, Pappy Van Winkle 20 Year and Pappy Van Winkle 23 Year. All are signed by Julian Van Winkle, current president of the “Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery.”

100% of proceeds from the auction will benefit the Lee Initiative Restaurant Workers Relief Program. As described by the Van Winkle family, one Chef Edward Lee, in partnership with The LEE Initiative and Maker’s Mark, launched the program on March 17th “out of the catering kitchen of Lee’s restaurant, 610 Magnolia, and has since expanded to include services offered out of 16 kitchens nationwide, and over 140,000 meals served thus far.”

Currently, the Restaurant Workers Relief Program has outposts in Atlanta, The Bay Area, Boston, Brooklyn, Chicago, Cincinnati, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Lexington, Louisville, Los Angeles, Nashville, New Orleans, Seattle, Tampa, and Washington, DC. 

“This crisis has been horrible for everyone and as a family, we wanted to find a way to support restaurant workers who are the backbone of our industry,” said Julian Van Winkle in a prepared statement. “We hope that auctioning these items will help The LEE Initiative continue this program for as long as they need.”

At the time we went to press on this story, the current bid was at $16,000. The winner, if they live in the lower 48 states, will have the option to have the bottles shipped to them. Pick up is also a choice.