S otheby's New York January Whiskey auction will be the first ever evening auction featuring American whiskey. America's Finest Bourbon and Rye Through the Decades will feature an unmatched assembly of some the finest American whiskey dating back to the late 19th century through the early 2000s.
America's Finest Bourbon and Rye Through the Decades offers an diverse and rich tour through the last century of American whiskey, a history lesson as told through more than 100 extremely rare and sought-after bottles.
The sale includes numerous whiskeys produced before and during national Prohibition, which began in 1920, and features coveted bourbons and ryes from the best-known distilleries of the era. Among the highlights is an extremely rare bottle of Bakers Pure Rye, believed to have been distilled in 1863 and bottled in 1872, which would make it among the oldest examples of American whiskey in existence.
Another notable entry is a 1908 vintage Old Overholt, a Pennsylvania Rye whiskey, drawn from the private collection of banking tycoon Andrew Mellon, the distillery’s owner. Two other standout rye whiskeys are a bottle of Sunny Brook selected for the Union League Club of New York, and a bottle of Charles Bellows Unblended Rye Whisky, believed to date from the late 19th century.
In addition, sale highlights include four bottles of Dowling Brothers, a 13-year-old, 100-proof bourbon, and a 1929 vintage Old Fitzgerald, all produced by the A.Ph. Stitzel Distillery, the forerunner to the famed Stitzel-Weller Distillery. The George T. Stagg Distillery, today known as Buffalo Trace, is also well represented, with a bottle of Old Fashioned Copper whiskey, Old Stagg Special Reserve 19 Year Old, and Antique Spiritus Frumenti, a fascinating Prohibition-era whiskey.
Also featured are two spectacular Rye whiskeys dating to before and after Prohibition. The first is a Gibson’s Rye from Pennsylvania, believed to be distilled all the way back in 1894 and bottled in 1917. This is offered alongside is a bottle of Mount Vernon Rye from Pennsylvania, distilled in 1937 and bottled in 1943. Together they offer a compelling set of bookends to the story of Prohibition and an unmatched insight into how that “noble experiment” changed the course of American whiskey history.
The sale offers several bottles of Old Fitzgerald, the flagship wheated bourbon that made the reputation of Julian “Pappy” Van Winkle, the distillery’s president, during the mid-20th century. Chief among them is a 15-year-old “Very Very Old” Fitzgerald, distilled in 1951 and bottled in 1966, a specimen that surely represents the pinnacle of Stitzel-Weller’s artistry. Alongside it is a gallon-size bottle of 6-Year-Old Old Fitzgerald – younger but just as likely to amaze.
No American Whiskey sale would be complete without a strong representation from the career of Julian Van Winkle III, who began as an independent bottler at his Old Commonwealth Distillery before moving to Buffalo Trace in 2002. Highlights include two of his final single-barrel private bottlings, both from 2007: a 23-year-old Van Winkle Family Reserve bottled for straightbourbon.com, and an astounding 12-bottle case of 20-year-old Van Winkle Family Reserve bottled for the RNM restaurant of San Francisco.
Other noteworthy bottles include an early, gold-wax-top bottle of 23-Year-Old Van Winkle Family Reserve; a 14-year-old Van Winkle Family Reserve distilled in 1970, making it one of the last whiskeys made at Stitzel-Weller before the Van Winkles were forced to sell the distillery; a 16-Year-Old Van Winkle Family Reserve from 1990, for export only; a rare 15-year-old Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye, again for export only; and one of only 1,200 examples of 23-Year-Old Old Rip Van Winkle Bourbon, bottled in 2007 in a crystal decanter at an unusually high 114 proof.
There are also multiple whiskeys that Van Winkle produced under private-label contracts, including a green-glass, blue-wax 16-Year-Old A.H. Hirsch bourbon, a true rarity, and a bottle of the 16-year-old bourbon done for the Twisted Spoke bar in Chicago; released in 1999, it was among the last Van Winkle worked on before moving to Buffalo Trace.
Another mid-century treasure is a wooden crate filled with 12 bottles of President’s Choice bourbon, from Brown-Forman. The distillery’s president would choose barrels by hand for friends of the company, then have them bottled with a custom label. This case was destined for Haab’s, a venerable, and recently shuttered, restaurant in Ypsilanti, Michigan.
Saving one of the finest for last, the sale also features a bottle of LeNell’s Red Hook Rye. A 23-year-old whiskey bottled by Kentucky Bourbon Distillers (aka Willett Distillery) for LeNell Santa Ana Camacho, a liquor shop owner in Brooklyn, it drew on a legendary set of rye barrels distilled in the early 1980s to produce what is said to be the best American whiskey of the last half century. It is the argubaly the unicorn of unicorns and a fitting pinnacle of this incredible auction.
