News
Van Winkle Unveils 2025 Collection with Rare 25-Year Bottle at Auction
The annual Pappy lineup returns this fall, while a rediscovered Old Rip Van Winkle 25-Year leads Legacy de Forge’s Bourbon Heritage Month auction.
Old Rip Van Winkle and Buffalo Trace are back with the 2025 Van Winkle Collection — the fall wheated-bourbon ritual that fills allocation boards from Frankfort to every secondary group that pretends it doesn’t exist.
The six-expression slate returns as usual: Old Rip Van Winkle 10 Year ($149.99), Van Winkle Special Reserve 12 ($169.99), Family Reserve Rye 13 ($229.99), Pappy 15 ($239.99), Pappy 20 ($359.99), and Pappy 23 ($499.99). Limited retail and on-premise placement starts in September; local shelf prices will roam as they always do.
The headline beyond the core six is auction-only: a rediscovered Old Rip Van Winkle 25 Year Old — Bottle #706 from the original Glencairn crystal run filled in 2017 — leads Legacy de Forge’s National Bourbon Heritage Month Auction (Sept. 10–24, 2025), paired with a private tasting with Julian Van Winkle. Other lots include O.F.C. 2006, Colonel E.H. Taylor Distiller’s Council, and a Stagg single barrel. Details at legacydeforge.com.
As always, the family urges buying through licensed retailers and skipping the Craigslist/eBay secondary scramble. For Bourbon Country watchers, it’s the annual reminder that patience in the rickhouse still sets the calendar.
Source: Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery / Buffalo Trace Distillery / Christi Cahill, Sazerac.