I spent a couple hundred dollars over the course of several months at ABC Fine Wines & Spirits. As a member, using one of those little plastic bar coded tags at every purchase, I received an invite to buy from their "Vault". One of the items available was Pappy Van Winkle, which I snatched up a bottle of. I haven't opened it yet, as I'm waiting to get my hands on another bottle, so I won't run out.
We reserve any bottles we get (usually 2 per store) for our BEST customers. If you think you can just show up in a store and ask to buy all we have you are not going to get anything.
Nowadays you have to either live in the right state that has access to it and even then you have to join the lottery, unless you buy it aftermarket which will run up the tab by x20 to x30 times.
Two great things about this video: the deeply rich and appreciated American history, and, the lovely and most charming Jane Pauley. Where have I been over the countless past years missing CBS Sunday Morning?
😊Please stay. My friends and I call it “favorite show”. It’s the best part of any week. The benefit of watching on RU-vid is the nature segment is twice as long. Or more. ♥️
Jane Pauley and her on the scene reporter just spent several minutes misleading, if not completely lying to your face about bourbon. If they can't tell the truth about something so inconsequential, what makes you think they are going to tell the truth about things that matter? It is sad how easily some folks are lead around.
@@oldlefty1267 Kev, with a smile, I’ll say I’m not a fan of bourbon, nor was I impressed with the article. Mentioning it was just a polite lead-in to my comment about the charming Ms. Pauley. Believe me, no one could be further apart with her political leanings than me. However, if she could keep politics out of the conversation, I’d be happy to have her charm my socks off on any evening over a candlelight dinner. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that she and I are about the same age and I remember her when she was a charming 23-year-old. 😎
Small family business? I thought this was one of several brands of the Buffalo Trace Distillery who's business model seems to be limited distribution to keep demand up for 3/4 of their offerings. Buffalo Trace's total production, including Pappy is nearly 3 million gallons per year - or something like 13 to 15 million bottles of bourbon. And Buffalo Trace itself is owned by the Sazerac which owns a half dozen different distilleries which produce many different types of spirits (not just whiskey) under quite a few brands and has over a billion dollars in sales. They are only of the largest sellers of spirits in the USA. One of the ways they market is by keeping a few of their high demand lines (like Pappy) very limited and only selling a very small allocation to customers who buy a lot of their less popular products. Not quite a small family business.
Truth is : whatever barrel is good and perfect goes to be pappy and william larue weller antique collection and remaining barrels which does not quite qualify for it goes into weller line bottles. Doesn’t mean weller special reserve , 12yr , 107 are bad . they are good as well. But pappy worth the hype ? Certainly NOOOOO. I had all their pappy line tasted . They are good but not worth more than $100-$200 . Save ur money and buy some good affordable bottles available like a wise smart man . Cheers 🥃
@@ghantakha5568 yeah, the lemmings who have ruined the whiskey market over the past 5-10 years have elevated this, the others you mentioned, pretty much anything Buffalo Trace (or whatever wins the things; McKenna experienced this too w/ their 10yo single barrel) to the level of ridiculous. scotch to some degree, but also largely the japanese whisky market... just waiting for the ramped up production to hit the shelves, the obnoxious hipster/millennial lemmings to move on to the next trend, leaving price/availability back to where it should be in a handful of years from now...
It’s made and aged at Buffalo Trace distillery. Don’t let them fool you with the story. Notice how they made to sound like the family is still making it.
Buffalo Trace is famous for creating “false scarcity” in order to create hype and pop pricing up a bit more. They do it with almost all of their bourbons.
@@RexxReviews Actually, I sell their whiskeys and they are relatively inexpensive to other whiskeys in the market.. Its the secondary market that pops up the prices...
Buffalo Trace are the absolute kings of marketing right now in the collector's market. They also sell Blanton's, which was a great $50-60 whiskey that is now impossible to get under $100.
So many great bourbon whiskies on the market today. Skip right past PVW and try something more modestly priced. Many great bourbons priced between $30-100.
I agree. Right now I’m enjoying a Makers Private Selection (Sweet Lips) that is $78 and simply delicious. The other Buffalo Trace offerings from Eagle Rare, EHTaylor, and Blantons if you can find them are delicious and won’t break the bank.
We have arrived at a place I never thought would be possible American Bourbons/wiskey cost more and are more difficult to find than scotches. I look forward to prices getting back to normal so I can drink them again.
If you're looking for Pappy you probably know it's owned by Sazerac Co. They also own Buffalo Trace along with many other fine bourbons and ryes. I have tried many of their products and haven't been disappointed yet. The price they ask for there products gives you a great value for what's in the bottle. Eagle Rare and Sazerac Rye being two of my favorites. It's a shame that speculators drive prices the way they do, I guess that's capitalism. We aren't talking about an essential like water, though it could be argued life is too short for bad liquor!
The plaque shown with Pappy (We shall make good bourbon here...) is plagarized from a monument at the Newport News Shipbuilding company, placed there in 1917 by Collis Potter Huntington, the shipyard's founder. The plaque on this stone monument reads: "We Shall Build Good Ships Here; At A Profit If We Can; At A Loss If We Must; But Always Good Ships." I saw it every day for the 5 years I worked there.
I’ve had Pappy before. Very good, but not for all the hype. Give me Wild Turkey 101 or if I’m feeling fancy...Russell’s Reserve Single Barrel, for a fraction of the price, endless supply, and rivals Pappy VW in flavor. Save yourself the hunt and the money.
My greatest memory of tasting whiskey was in Scotland. It was a single malt, 12 years old. Unbelievable, so smooth. BTW - The Scots age their whiskey in old bourbon barrels. In the USA the bourbon barrels can only be used once. So to have Scotch drinkers, you need bourbon drinkers. Lastly, take a tour of a distillery sometime, fascinating.
@@jhoang861 My understanding is Federal laws dictate the barrels be used once in the aging process. Now the Scots will use former sherry barrels as well to age their whiskies. This gives the whiskey a unique flavor. Learned all this on a distillery tour in Scotland. The Scots have many distilleries and many offer tours. Beautiful country.
@@generatorjohn4537 They can use the barrels more than once in the U.S. but if they do they can't call it bourbon. So you have Early Times, which reuses its barrels, and it's sold as "Kentucky Whiskey".
@@FawleyJude When I was in Scotland they said that they take used bourbon barrels and use them to age their single malts. Thanks for the clarification.
Small family liquor business? Pappy is entirely made by sazerac co. They have an estimated yearly revenue of $1 billion. I’m sure it’s great, but small family business isn’t true anymore.
Then he has sadly fallen for the hype. This is hardly worth the retail price. Buffalo Trace is famous for creating “false scarcity” in order to create hype and pop pricing up a bit more. They do it with almost all of their bourbons and this one is no different.
Consider yourself lucky if you are in possession of anything Van Winkle. I have 2 Old Rip 10yr, 3 12yr Lot B & a 15 yr. Slowly working my way towards that 20 & 23 yr
Scored a bottle of 20 five years ago this month, couldn't believe my luck. Still have around a quarter of it left, I'll probably finish it off this Christmas.
Funny how rebranding a bourbon and making it hard to find will drive up the price. Not that long ago, could purchase it at BevMo, for under $70. Basil Hayden or Angels Envy is just as good, without the price tag.
Lmao I’m just gonna stick to Eagle Rare. That’s hard enough to find as it is, and when I do find it, I don’t have to take out a second mortgage to pay for it.
I’ll say why people go crazy over any Van Winkle product. Because it’s aged for 10-23 years and because several barrels of it were stolen from the Buffalo Trace distillery back in the early 2010’s. By an employee who was into black marketeering. And when some of it was recovered it was destroyed by the distillery because they didn’t want to take the risk of selling tainted liquor. Its popularity was probably accelerated by guys like Anthony Bourdain who felt it’s the most glorious bourbon on the face of the planet, and that if god made whiskey he’d make Pappy Van Winkle. So because of that influence and that theft ring they busted up 10 years ago it’s in such short supply. Therefore anyone who can afford it will have to search high and low just to find a bottle. I saw a bottle of the 20 year Pappy at a local liquor store in suburban Los Angeles that was selling for $3,500 before sales tax. There’s several wheated bourbons on the market that can be sold for $25-$200 (give or take). Think about that.
It's a great book that's a quick read. Kinda sad in places. You do find out what he keeps in his flask when Pappy Van Winkle isn't available...and that's kinda funny.
35 years in the liquor industry one of the largest stores in Colorado by family-owned. It's a good bourbon Buzz Marketing scam. What this news report isn't telling you that's half on by Sazerac Spirits which is in partnership with National Republic Distributing Company.
wooooooooooow woooooooooooooooooooooww woooooooooooooooooooooww Whiskey drinks too much beautiful country americano whisky Happy Birthday Thank you very much girl friends forever remember
It’s good but it’s not that good. Their production is controlled to control the hype and demand. Bourbon shouldn’t be so rare that you will never own it unless you Can afford $60 an oz in bars or $2k for a bottle. The 12 and 15 year are probably my favorites of the line but never going to pay more than a few hundred for a bottle
PLM Killjoy. Didn't your momma ever tell you "just because you can, doesn't mean you should. " You need to get into the spirit of "Sunday Morning". It's story sharing, not hard hitting expose material. Now play nice and let others enjoy. If it's not to your taste, click away. We need our simple pleasures more than ever these days. Thanks.
@@katmandudawn8417 Very well said, KD, very well said. It’s certainly great to see that others share the knowledge that a more laid back attitude improves life tremendously.
I’ve got them all, paid retail for them years ago. I’ll tell you what, try the ‘97 mid winters night dram. Every bit as good (or should I say sweet) as the 13 yo pappy
It's the old 'Gell-Mann Amnesia effect' at play: whenever the media cover a subject you know something about, they mess up basic details. But then when they cover a subject you don't know so well, you're supposed to trust that they know what they're talking about...
They seem like nice folks. I bought a bottle of Pappy 20 year old back in 2010 before all the megahype hit the fan. It was $100. It was excellent, but there are a lot of excellent bourbons out there and there's no reason for people to go nuts over Pappy like they have, paying $2500/bottle on the secondary market or entering lotto sweepstakes for the opportunity to buy a bottle at normal retail. I know someone who has an empty Pappy bottle that he refills with $50/bottle bourbon, serves it to his friends without telling them, and his friends think they've gotten the nectar of the gods.
unless you are a bourbon expert, you cant tell anyway. I have had pappy and it taste like a good bourbon, but nothing special to me. Ive had louis tres also and thats not that special. Its all overhyped to me.
It's like all high end products. If you are wealthy, you'll pay top $ mostly for the novelty and to share with your best friends and loved ones. In that regard, it's worth it. As a pure product, it's not worth the price, primarily because of the law of diminishing returns. For example, a $1,000 bottle of wine is not twice as good as a $500 bottle (especially with the labels removed). So there is a sweet spot, beyond which the quality and taste premium doesn't go up as fast as the price. I've tried to buy Pappy for a few hundred $ at the Pennsylvania state store lotteries but never scored. I would definitely drink it with friends then refill the bottle (with full disclosure) with a very good wheater and share it just for a hoot. I even have a bogus Pappy label that one day I'll slap on a wheater just for fun.
Its hard to find......Pennsylvania has a grand total of about 1,451 bottles this year. Only 18 of those are the 23 year! The state will receive well over 100,000 entries to the lottery for a opportunity to buy a bottle. Giving us in PA a probably less than 1:100 chance of even getting our hands on it......not hard to find at all
If you want to try “Pappy””, at a fraction of the price, try the RL Weller. It was originally intended to be “Pappy”, but at some point during the aging process, when pulling a test sample from the barrel, it didn’t meet a criteria to become “Pappy”. The color was a little off, or something of that nature. But unless you have an amazingly educated palate, you probably wouldn’t be able to discern which was which. A really good way to experience really good bourbon, without having to speak to a loan officer.
Oh, great, everything that someone calls "poor man's pappy" gets wiped out everywhere. Please stop it, everyone. There are lots of excellent bourbons everywhere. Most people don't even know enough about whisk(e)y and don't have the palate to appreciate the few percentage points that separate one bottling from another (this ability can be developed but the difference will never be worth hundreds of dollars). Buffalo Trace products are great, including the Pappy line, but other available bourbons routinely win in blind tastings. This is artificial hype, as fake as all spirit competitions.
5 years ago or so, I bought a few bottles of Weller special reserve at a state liquor store in Philly. They weren’t even top shelf, $20-25 bucks if I remember. I also recall debating if I should just get Makers Mark or Bulleit but thought eh, I’ll try something new. Crazy how much those are going for now...
This comment is remarkably true. I can drink a glass of Eagle Rare, Henry McKenna 10yr, Baker's 7, etc. by myself and savor it; however, to absolutely enjoy it as it was intended, I must share with good company. (just don't let them mix it)
Cool story Bro! Pappy products have been bottled by Buffalo Trace for years and still are today. The barrels are sitting in Buffalo's rack houses as they were when I last did the tour there a couple of years ago. I can't help but think there is a massive disconnect between this story and the actual truth.
"All bourbon is whiskey but not all whiskey is bourbon....." I'm a big fan of good bourbon but price is not always indicative of quality - good bourbon, regardless of price, is lovingly and carefully crafted and is usually a step above most mass produced spirits. Few things are better than a good glass of bourbon and a comfortable chair after a long day of work. I like Pappy but there many other bourbons that are just as good and as unique. The journey in finding one is the rewarding and satisfying part!
Buffalo Trace = the king of bourbon marketing. Build up hype so people pay ridiculous amounts of money for over hyped and extremely overpriced bourbon. To many bourbons at much greater prices to be dropping a mortgage payment on a bottle.
In 2019 one of the local liquor stores had a Pappy raffle. If your number got drawn, you could buy a bottle at retail. There were hundreds of people there from hundreds of miles away. My son asked me to go since more people = more chances. He and I both got picked. I got a bottle of 12 year old and he got a bottle of 10 year old. Don't ask me how they taste because he still hasn't opened them.
What’s the point of media companies doing stories like this? They almost never get anything accurate. 2:20 can’t even bother saying Louisville correctly. 🙄
Great story...I haven't ever tried it myself. Nor would I go through the trouble or expense. There are so many high quality Bourbons and TN Whiskys on the market. But , if that's what people with the means want to buy , then good for Pappy !
Blantons ,EH Taylor, Weller 107, among many others are all really delicious bourbons. Probably I won’t ever get a bottle of Pappy’s, but that’s okay......still others that are just as good.
