Mention Pappy Van Winkle and bourbon enthusiasts get the kind of far away look in their eye usually reserved for old men holding on to the memory of their first kiss, right before they slip into the waiting arms of senility.
A warm glow.
A knowing surrender.
In 1909 Julian Sr. and Alex F. Farnsley bought the liquor wholesaler William L. Weller & Sons, a company for which both men had worked for years. The Weller Company purchased whiskey for sale on the open market, and contracted for large lots from distillers, with their largest supplier being the A. Ph. Stitzel Distillery in Louisville, Kentucky.
To insure the company had a continuous and secure supply of raw whiskey, the men realized they needed to own at least a part interest in a distillery, so they invested in the Stitzel plant, eventually consolidating and incorporating both companies under the name, the Stitzel-Weller Distillery.
In the early 1900's the Anti-Saloon League became the leading organization lobbying for prohibition, bypassing and supplanting the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, as that group expanded their efforts to focus on additional social reform issues, such as the women's right to vote. Through the efforts of the leader, Wayne Bidwell Wheeler, the Anti-Saloon League employed an approach that focused on single-issue pressure politics, which included media campaigns and public demonstrations, to lead the fight to outlaw the manufacture, distribution, and sale of alcoholic beverages.
About one year before the enactment of national prohibition, Stitzel-Weller introduced "Old Rip Van Winkle", a Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey whose primary expression was aged no less than ten years. It was welcomed by those of a discerning palate with open arms and wallets. Unfortunately, for most distillers, the market for alcohol would soon be impacted by the multiple successes of the dry crusaders.
Fortunately, though, for Pappy Van Winkle and Alex Farnsley, the adoption of the 18th amendment didn't hit the Stitzel-Weller company too hard as the distiller/distributor had been licensed by the Federal Government to produce whiskey for "medicinal purposes", as there seemed to be an exponentially increasing medical need for their sour mash cures.
As time progressed and tastes changed, a widespread depression in the sale and consumption of whiskey dampened the industry and the Stitzel-Weller Distillery facility was sold, and eventually their brands were sold off as well to other companies.
All except for the rights to the pre-prohibition brand name "Old Rip Van Winkle".
As luck would have it in the mid 1970's Julian Van Winkle, Jr. resurrected the Old Rip Van Winkle brand using legacy whiskey stock from the Stitzel-Weller distillery for its bottlings. It's place among bourbon devotees has since become legend.
Neil considered the bottle perched on the linoleum shelf in the lonely hotel room and wondered whether Julian Van Winkle Sr. would approve of it being consumed in this place.
"Well" he said to himself as much to his dogs, "in the words of Pink, let's get this party started."
He disrobed and moved toward the beckoning shower.
YOU ARE READING
Neil Knight Private Dick
Mystery / ThrillerHe's relaxing in a hotel with his two dogs and a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle bourbon when she knocks on his door looking for help. For the next two months he connects with a hip hop record producer, a genius hillbilly coder and his MBA stripper wife...
