The name Van Winkle is synonymous with Bourbon excellence. In 1908 Julian P. Van Winkle Sr. (“Pappy" as he was known to friends and family), with a partner, purchased the W.L. Weller & Sons wholesale liquor company. Later the pair purchased the Stitzel Distillery in Louisville where they provided spirits to be sold by their wholesale company and created the Old Rip Van Winkle brand in pre-prohibition Kentucky.

Pappy continued to distill until his death in 1963 at the age of 89. While the Van Winkle family sold the Stitzel-Weller distillery in 1972, they never abandoned their Bourbon brand reviving the Old Rip Van Winkle brand in 1972 as well. In 1977 Julian III joined his father and took the reigns of the family company in 1981 with the death of his father.

Today, the entire line of Van Winkle whiskies is produced at the award winning Buffalo Trace distillery in Frankfort Kentucky using the same, original family recipe developed by Pappy many decades ago.