Old Rip Van Winkle Old Time Rye Whiskey 12 Year Old Squat Bottle / Lawrenceburg

Old Rip Van Winkle Old Time Rye Whiskey 12 Year Old Squat Bottle / Lawrenceburg

This is an extremely rare bottle of the old style Old Rip Van Winkle 12 year old Old Time Rye. These were first bottled in 1997 by Julian Van Winkle III using rye whiskey from Medley distillery. In 1998, the same reserves were bottled as the 13 year old Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye in the taller “cognac” bottle and exported outside of the USA. In 1999 those reserves were first released in the US market under the 13 year Family Reserve Rye label.

The 13 year old Family Reserve Rye became an annual release with the same age statement, despite continuing to age in cask for a further five years before being tanked at 19 years old in 2004. Later releases of Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye were blended with Bernheim’s Cream of Kentucky. The original batch finally ran out in 2017.

This bottle is from the old Medley stock, making it incredibly sought after. A circa 2001 bottling with the 12 year old age statement, meaning the whiskey was about 15-16 years old at bottling.