Pappy Van Winkle's Family Reserve 15 Year Old is widely regarded as the workhorse of the Van Winkle range and the bottle most lovers of wheated bourbon would reach for first. Distilled and aged at Buffalo Trace under the supervision of the Van Winkle family, it spends fifteen years in heavily charred new oak, gaining depth and structure without losing the soft, sweet character that the wheat-led recipe is prized for.
The whiskey pours a deep amber. The nose is generous and elegant, leading with caramel corn, vanilla and a rich seam of toasted oak. On the palate it is full and supple, with concentrated caramel, toffee and peppery brown spice giving way to leather and dried fruit. The finish is long and slowly evolving, lifted by warm spice and a final flourish of oak tannin.
Within the Van Winkle range, the 15 Year offers the most assertive expression of the wheated-bourbon style: rich, layered and unmistakably matured.