Pappy Van Winkle Charity Dinner
On Sunday Night, I had the opportunity to have dinner at The Pinewood in Decatur to benefit an awesome charity called Poverty Is Real that utilizes music to fight poverty and homelessness. It was a 7-course meal with a different Pappy for each course, but more importantly it was the culmination of so many different folks collaborating and utilizing a product highly sought after to offer support and aid for a charity doing remarkable things.
We were able to sample: Old Weller 12yr 90pf Old Fashioned, Old Rip Van Winkle 10yr 107pf, Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye 13yr 95.6pf, Van Winkle Special Reserve 12yr Lot "B" 90.4pf, Pappy Van Winkle Family Reserve 15yr 107pf, Pappy Van Winkle Family Reserve 20yr 90.4pf, Pappy Van Winkle Family Reserve 23yr 95.6pf
What made the dinner especially great was the balance in pace between the bourbon, the superb menu presented by Mike Blydenstein, and the oral recount of the history of Pappy from Julian Goglia, partner and principal barkeep of The Pinewood. What surprised me the most about Pappy is that they actually utilize bourbon from Buffalo Trace and just bottle it themselves. The process for this has changed over the years, so it's worth taking a look at the history here!