Every new bourbon seems to have an intricate backstory that involves important figures in whiskey history, recipes passed down between generations, and claims of being the first to put something in a particular type of barrel. Sometimes the details are real, but more often than not there’s a bit of embellishment going on. In the case of Old Commonwealth, as with nearly every brand, the truth probably lands somewhere in the middle, but one thing is for sure—this whiskey can verifiably be traced back to Julian Van Winkle II of Pappy Van Winkle fame.
Old Commonwealth 10 Year Kentucky Straight Bourbon Fall 2024 is the first release from the Old Commonwealth Distillery, which is not actually a distillery but a non-distilling producer that sources its whiskey from others. The roots of this bourbon can be traced back to the 1970s when Julian Van Winkle II, the son of “Pappy” Van Winkle, started bottling whiskey produced at the Stitzel-Weller under this name. In 1983, his son, Julian Van Winkle III, bought an old distillery in Lawrenceberg, Kentucky and named it Commonwealth Distillery, using it to produce various brands over the years. He launched Old Commonwealth in 1997 as a 10-year-old wheated bourbon (similar to Pappy) bottled at 107 proof, continuing to source and bottle that whiskey until 2002, the same year the Van Winkle family partnered with Sazerac to produce Pappy Van Winkle at Buffalo Trace.
Fast forward to 2019 when Zachary Joseph and Andrew English purchased the rights to the distillery name and partnered with Troy LeBlanc to source and bottle whiskeys under the labels once produced at the old distillery. “Our mission is to provide premium whiskey that shares our storied history, one glass at a time, and we’re thrilled with this first step in that journey,” said Joseph in a statement. “Julian is a whiskey legend and a friend of Old Commonwealth. We’ve shown him the facility and what we’re doing to preserve and extend the Van Winkle family history and heritage.”
The first release is this new 10-year-old bourbon, made from a mashbill of 75 percent corn, 15 percent rye, and 10 percent malted barley at an undisclosed distillery in Kentucky, which differs from the wheated mashbill of the original. According to Joseph, the team tried proofing the whiskey down to the 107 proof of the original, but they felt that it worked better at cask strength—which is a whopping 131.83 proof. That is quite strong, but it doesn’t mask the whiskey’s flavor, which has notes of dark chocolate, tobacco, leather, ripe stone fruit, and a touch of cherry syrup on the palate.
The other new release from Old Commonwealth is called Kentucky Nectar, a Kentucky bourbon finished in honey casks that is based on an old brand that has nothing to do with the Van Winkle family. That one just came out, so it might be easier to find than Old Commonwealth 10 Year, which sold out from the brand’s online retailer not long after it launched. You can still find bottles available to purchase at stores in Kentucky, where you may have to pay more than the original $200 asking price, or you can add your name to the brand’s waitlist to find out about future releases.
