Pappy Van Winkle 15 Year

Bucket list check mark

Vanilla and cinnamon. Delicious!

Spicy, rich, dried fruit, tobacco

I’ll spare the long backstory but this fell into my hands as a likely Act of God. I cracked it with my dad who I’ve not seen in a year but who is finally vaccinated, along with my mom. Caramel-red hue. Nose starts out with old sawdust... something like a well seasoned pipe with layers of char. I give it time and slowly the wood gives way to fruity esters of ripe banana (mild, not full-on Barton), cherry syrup and raisins. Pipe tobacco shows up with caramel. Ethanol and wet pennies lie in the distant background. There is barely any heat on entry and a medium-light mouthfeel that is 100% earthy wet, brown pipe tobacco that unfolds into bright vanilla and caramel on the top of the tongue, honey and ginger with dark fruit mid palate and new leather and oak down the hatch into a medium finish... Did I just eat a bowl of raisin-pecan oatmeal and smoke a pipe or did I just turn a $2500 bottle into a $0 bottle that I will cherish with my family and friends until it’s gone? Red pill or blue pill sort of moment... It’s good, and for me checks all the right earthy boxes and takes the pipe tobacco of say Eagle Rare to 11. Not as fruity or sharp as OWA, not as punchy and less of a dynamic finish than Weller FP. Up there with the best Noah’s Mill and a dusty 14y Elijah Craig store pick I stumbled across. Far less sweet and spicy than any Makers Mark 46/select stave I’ve ever tried. No where near the complexity of an ECBP or GTS. Obviously no rye to liken it to Wild Turkey, Beam or various Willett estate offerings I’ve tried. Honestly, who cares. I’m gonna go spend time with my parents, wife (who slyly remarked “I wish you’d look at me that way sometimes” when I tore off the foil) and two wild kids.