It wasn’t so long ago that Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve 20-year bourbon was a mere $70 at Lukas Liquor Superstore. I know this because I would save up, then crack open a bottle with other like-minded individuals. What I would give to pay that price now. Seeing as how these precious bourbons can’t be replaced and supply is extremely limited, prices are based solely upon demand. Today, Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve 20-year costs around $650.
A pre-Prohibition bourbon like Jim Beam 1911 will go for about $8,000. At Lukas Liquor, there’s now a lottery system just to determine those souls lucky enough to buy a bottle of rare whiskey. The simple fact is that if you want to drink something older than 1933—or better yet, older than 1919—it’s going to cost you. Prohibition did an effective job of obliterating most of the stock. Any whiskeys that weren’t destroyed were consumed, rather than being stored or aged…or were they?
There are instances where these great whiskies disappeared, only to be found again years later. Stories have arisen of old stashes that remained hidden for centuries. Just recently, a collection of more than 100 bottles of whiskey was found beneath an old stairwell in Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, the tenant had consumed nearly half of the bottles—to the tune of more than $100,000 in value.
Traditional theory suggests that spirits don’t age after being taken from the cask or barrel and placed in bottles. In general, this is true: Spirits don’t really evolve in complexity as they did in the barrel—unless they spend a century in the bottle. Then, we’re talking about something else entirely. During this extremely slow aging process, almost no oxygen is introduced, so the spirit crawls to its next stage of life. Most historic bottles were sealed with corks, allowing just a touch of evaporation (not that dissimilar to wine). Over time, small amounts of spirit vapor disappear, further concentrating and intensifying the color, flavor, and aroma. Rich and super complex, with a sort of reduction/concentration that could only be achieved through a slooow evaporation process, these whiskies make you ponder the time period from which they come.
Some restaurants are now stressing the importance of these divine spirits, making them a focal point of their respective programs. In St. Louis, there are at least two notable new places whose focus is dark spirits. Midtown’s Small Batch focuses on “American whiskey and bourbons, both neat and blended, with a library of house-blended liqueurs, bitters, tonics, and tinctures,” notes owner Dave Bailey. And as the name implies, Gamlin Whiskey House—the new Central West End restaurant from brothers Derek and Lucas Gamlin of Sub Zero Vodka Bar—emphasizes dark spirits. “We will have a whiskey sommelier, with bottles on a rolling cart,” says Derek.
A sommelier devoted to whiskey? Bourbon in St. Louis sure has come a long way since those good ol’ days at Lukas Liquor.
A former sommelier at The French Laundry, Hoel serves as a senior wine advisor for Soutirage, a Napa Valley wine merchant and advisory firm.
