Willett expert Emerson Shotwell picks through a rare bourbon and rye collection, pouring and talking through the bottles one at a time. He reads the wax before he reads the label: black, blue, and cognac-dipped tops that signal what is inside, from a Pacific Edge single-barrel pick to the Red Hook Rye bottlings named Iron Fist and Velvet Glove and a 14-year release under blue wax. What he reaches for first, and why, doubles as a short course in how to choose, pour, and talk about Willett.
Willett has been distilling in Kentucky since 1936, and much of its cult status comes from the naming: early single barrels christened by hand rather than numbered, a practice tied to collectors like Bill Thomas of Jack Rose in Washington, DC. Shotwell moves through older bourbon and rye at proofs that, at this age, almost never hold up together, including one decades-old bottle he places close to an anomaly.
The collection comes to auction at Nightcap, Sotheby's first New York wine and spirits festival, at The Breuer. Nightcap runs 16 to 19 September, bringing together tastings, collector dinners, and auctions across wine and spirits. The whiskey sale takes place 17 to 19 September, with the Nightcap event happening on 18 September.
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