Sotheby’s announced on Friday that a bottle of Old Rip Van Winkle “Van Winkle Selection” broke the record for a post-prohibition American whiskey auction sale after racking up a $125,000 bid. The bottle is signed by Julian P. Van Winkle III, and has the date 9-15-07 written on it.
The 125.6-proof bottle was made for the 2007 Kentucky Bourbon Festival, and Sotheby’s expected it to sell from somewhere between $30,000 to $50,000. Sotheby’s claimed that the bourbon was referred to as a “one-of-a-kind special blend” bottled by hand and considered the second highest proof expression the auction house had ever seen from the brand.
Sotheby’s claims that Julian Van Winkle remembers his son, Preston Van Winkle, created the label for this bottle right before it went under the hammer for the first time at the Master Distiller’s Auction in 2007. Those in attendance at the auction claimed the Van Winkles produced this bottle at the very “last minute,” which is why the label looks so simple and has an almost “homemade” quality to its design.
Proceeds from the first time it hit the block went to the Oscar Getz Museum of Bourbon History in Kentucky.
As for the juice inside, Sotheby’s shares the liquid is a blend of barrels of 15 to 20-year-old whiskey, and the auction house suspects it was highly likely they were made at the Stitzel Weller and Old Fitzgerald distillery.
This latest offering from the storied brand shatters the original record set by an 18-year-old bottle of Van Winkle that sold for $107,715.
In February, Sazerac launched a fundraiser to support relief efforts for the California wildfires.
For the first time, the brand offered up a barrel of Pappy Van Winkle 15 Year Old for auction, and Sazerac reported that the funds raised from the auction would be split between World Central Kitchen and Another Round Another Rally to help the victims of the Los Angeles firestorm.
No responses yet