This review was originally published in May 2016, and updated in December 2024. This week we are reviewing a range of bottlings that are part of the Old Rip Van Winkle/Pappy Van Winkle lineup.

I’m talking about the likes of E.H. Taylor, Weller, and especially Pappy Van Winkle. The last of those is so beloved and hard to get that it sells on the secondary market for thousands of dollars.

If you don’t remember much from the children’s fairytale Rip Van Winkle, it’s the one where to avoid his wife’s nagging, the main character takes a drink from a stranger and then sleeps ...