Pappy Van Winkle 15 Year: Whisk(e)y Wednesday presented by Calandro's Supermarket

Pappy Van Winkle 15 Year

Pappy. It is one word in the Whiskey world that everyone should know. Hailing the Old Rip Van Winkle distillery, the 15 Year Pappy is a 107 proof behemoth of a bourbon. Its nose fills the nostrils with a strong and bold caramel reduction kind of aroma. I could sniff it all day. Vanilla, honey, and oak are all present on this nearly perfect bouquet. Seriously, somebody needs to invent a candle that smells like Pappy 15. The wheated whiskey slams into your taste buds with a vengeance. My tongue tingled from the singe of the cinnamon-like spice profile. The heavily boozy bourbon lingers around on the back end, too. It is astringent and viscous, staying with you from the lips down your throat as it burns on the end while trickling down like syrup. But it hurts so good. It is high octane but even fuller on flavor. There is so much beauty going on in this bourbon and it is perhaps even masked by being 107 proof. I should have tried it again with a few rocks or just a dash or two of water to open it up some. Good thing I have more, so I can. This whiskey is rare. If you ever see it available, make sure to grab it while you can. It may be even more rare after the recent bourbon heist, but that mostly saw stolen 20 Year Pappy, the slightly more aged brother of the 15 Year. I got my bottle from the kind heart of Todd at the Turtle Bar at Houmas House. He might have it available by the dram for anyone who wants to try it. I owe that man a steak or something.

Pappy Van Winkle 15 Year Straight Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey

Average Score 91.0

Whisk(e)y Wednesday is a blog post series on Bite and Booze sponsored by Calandro's Supermarket. Calandro's has one of Baton Rouge's best selections of bourbon, Scotch, Irish, and other whisk(e)ys as well as wine and craft beer. This WW feature was scored by Jay Ducote, Eric Ducote, and Jeremy Spikes. Scores are marked for Nose, Taste, Finish, and Balance and Complexity using our own proprietary scoring system. Marks are then added and averaged, leaving us with a final score out of a 100 point scale. Our scale should be looked at on the full range of 0-100 rather than an academic range where 70 is passing and anything less is failing. A 50 should be considered a very mediocre whisk(e)y while anything below 20 is absolute horse piss and anything above 90 is rather extraordinary.