A few years ago, I was in Kentucky traveling the Bourbon Trail, when I first heard the name Pappy Van Winkle. There are a lot of fine bourbons in Kentucky, but this particular one is the sought after prize for aficionados. Naively I thought I could pick up a bottle at the Buffalo Trace Distillery where it is made.
Little did I know that this stuff is rare – so rare that only certain collectors, restaurants, and liquor stores are on the exclusive list to purchase one or two bottles when a batch is ready…and that isn’t often. Even the distillery doesn’t sell it.
Although it technically retails for around a hundred bucks, it sells for thousands. Even one shot can be a hundred bucks…if you can find one. They only produce about 8K cases per year, which seems like a lot, but demand is so high those sell like hot cakes. Despite not having Pappy, Buffalo Trace had a few other nice bourbons, of which I partook:
I think my favorites of theirs (at least of those I could taste) was the Bourbon Cream and Blanton (which I had to buy at a liquor store in Lexington as the distillery didn’t have it either).
Despite not having Pappy on hand, I highly recommend a visit to Buffalo Trace…after all, they know how to make fine bourbon. 🙂
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