As we celebrate Derby 144, we are revisiting my stories from 2014 on Pappy Van Winkle, the real person, real Louisville bourbon executive, who made history on Derby Day 1935.
Eighty-three years ago on that day, Pappy (Julian Van Winkle), skipped the Kentucky Derby to hang out at his beloved new project in Shively: Opening Day of the famed Stitzel Weller Distillery.
In Shively, Pappy produced Old Fitzgerald, a bourbon that would become the template recipe for his grandson many years later when the bourbon, Pappy Van Winkle was produced.
Part 2:
Pappy wasn’t much into betting and didn’t attend the races a lot. He was dedicated to the bourbon industry, as 1935 certainly showed.
As the city shutdown for Derby Day, Pappy was firing up the stills at Stitzel Weller!