Julian P. Van Winkle III

Julian P. Van Winkle III is the third generation of distillers from the Van Winkle family. When he joined the family business in 1977 with his father Julian Jr., they were producing only two wheated whiskies: 90 proof 10-year-old and 107 proof Old Rip Van Winkle. Since then, they have added 12, 15, 20, and 23-year-old labels to their bourbon line. They also have a 13-year-old premium rye that was introduced to their whiskey line.

Following his father’s death in 1981, Julian ran the company by himself until his son Preston, the fourth generation, joined in 2001. 

In 1972, 7 years after the death of Pappy Van Winkle Sr., the Stitzel-Weller Distillery was forced to sell. Under the terms of the sales agreement with Somerset Imports, the Van Winkles were able to procure the rights of old stock in the distillery as well as the Old Rip Van Winkle brand name. At that time, Julian III had just returned from college at Randolph-Macon College, where he had studied economics and psychology.

III tried his hand as a salesman in a clothing store, but soon found himself working beside his father, Julian Jr., trying to salvage the family whiskey business. As barrels of Pappy’s bourbon were aging in the Stitzel-Weller warehouse, they began to buy back the barrels and bottle them independently under the Old Rip Van Winkle label, which had been purchased in the 1950s. Julian Jr. had also procured an office building and formed the company ‘J.P. Van Winkle and Son’. 

In 1981, when cancer finally took his father, III decided to continue to operate the business on his own at the age of 32. He purchased a run-down building in an area of Louisville prone to flooding and continued to bottle Old Rip Van Winkle by hand. Unfortunately, the 1980s were a bad time for the bourbon industry, and III had a family with four children to support. In those days, bourbon sold well only if it came in a gimmicky decanter shaped like a dog or a football.

In the late 1980s, Diageo, now the owners of Stitzel-Weller Distillery, was selling off whole barrels of Pappy for $200 each. Julian III purchased as many of them as he could and began bottling one of the world’s first 20-year-old bourbons.  For 15 years, the Van Winkles went with the character decanter gimmick, until a salesman who worked for the company entered their 20-year-old bourbon in the Beverage Tasting Institute of Chicago for judging. Old Rip Van Winkle received an unprecedented score of 99, and what followed was an immediate demand for his product that has not abated to this day, some thirty years later. 

During his time running the business, III also bought the Old Hoffman Distillery in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, renaming it Old Commonwealth Distillery. At Old Commonwealth, III perfected the barrel storage and bottling process, which still helps generate and maintain the mouthfeel, palate, and finish that Pappy is known for.

By 2002, the Van Winkles ventured into business with Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, Kentucky, where all Van Winkle distilling is now taking place, while still following the Van Winkle traditional recipe and standards. 

In 2009, III was nominated for a James Beard Award under the category of Outstanding Wine & Spirits Professional. In 2010, he was nominated for another James Beard award. This Award is known as the ‘Oscars’ of the food and Beverage world.  In 2011, he finally won the prestigious Award, and in doing so became the first Kentuckian ever to win a James Beard Award.

Whisky Magazine has also since honored Julian Van Winkle III with his induction into its Hall of Fame. Then he was recognized by the 2017 Whisky Magazine Awards, one of only 39 to be endowed with this honor. Perhaps his greatest honor occurred in 2022, when Julian Van Winkle III was inducted into the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame.