Last Night's Tipple

Since I managed to find another bottle of Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye on Saturday, it's safe to drink more of the bottle that I had open. And so I did. Van Winkle claims that this is the first older rye that was on the market ("Until now, most rye whiskeys were only 5 years old or younger. This 13-year rye breaks the mold. It's the original aged rye whiskey."), and I can't think of anything that would contradict that claim. It's not the oldest rye on the market today -- Sazerac 18 year old and Rittenhouse 21 year old are both older, and I think that Black Maple Hill has put out an older rye, too -- but it does predate those older ryes by at least a couple of years. I don't know if you can argue that Van Winkle provided the example for these other brands since the trend in the marketplace over the past few years has been towards older and older American whiskey. But it has been a trailblazer. And it is an excellent whiskey.