Black Maple Hill 16 Year Old Single Barrel Bourbon Cask #121 / Lawrenceburg [Van Winkle]

Black Maple Hill 16 Year Old Single Barrel Bourbon Cask #121 / Lawrenceburg

An incredibly rare Black Maple Hill Single Barrel Bourbon bottled by Julian Van Winkle and assumed to be old Stitzel Weller stock.

When asked about the origins of some old BMH bottlings, Julian wrote, "I indeed bottled this whiskey over the last few years for a distributor in Califonia. He sold it to several markets around the country, but not here in louisville. It was my Van Winkle whiskey under abother label. The ages bottled were 14, 16, 18 & even some 20-year. There was alos a rye whiskey which was mine. All the Van Winkle whiskey would have been in bottled dislaying the "Bottled in Lawrenceburg, KY" address. Since I now do all my bottling at Buffalo Trace in Frankfort, the Califonia distributor is now buying his whiskey and having the bottling done in Bardstown at KY Bourbon Distillers. The whiskey is quite differnt now. I am short of Van Winkle whiskey so I cold[sp] not acconodate the Black Maple Hill label anymore."

Black Maple Hill is among the most coveted American whiskeys, with a history that connects it with some of the biggest names in Kentucky distilling. Like several other extremely limited-release brands from the early 2000s, Black Maple Hill did not make its own whiskey, or even bottle it. Rather, its owner, a California-based company called CVI Brands, hired Julian Van Winkle III to find high-quality barrels of whiskey and bottle it for them. At the time, Van Winkle was working out of the disused Hoffman Distillery in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, where he bottled whiskey for his own brand, Old Rip Van Winkle, as well as for clients like CVI, all of which have long since achieved legend status among collectors.

The relationship with Van Winkle lasted just a few years. With interest in bourbon picking up – and especially interest in his whiskeys – Van Winkle was running out of stock, and in 2002 he signed a deal with Sazerac to produce his Van Winkle line of whiskey at the company’s Buffalo Trace distillery. That deal required him to cancel his sourcing and bottling contracts, including with CVI Brands.

CVI Brands pivoted quickly, signing a new deal with Kentucky Bourbon Distillers, owned by the Kulsveen family and located at the old Willett Distillery. (It’s easy to tell the difference between Van Winkle and KBD bottlings: If the label says “Bottled in Lawrenceburg, KY,” it’s from Van Winkle; if it says “Bottled in Bardstown, KY,” it’s from Willett.) 

Huge waves of corn perfume settle down after aeration with added fragrances of cotton candy, old oak, baked banana, honey and brown sugar. Palate entry is honey-sweet and viscous; by midpalate, the sweetness gets subdued by a zesty note of spice. Concludes resiny, lip-smackingly corny and sweet. Mention Black Maple Hill to a dedicated bourbon fanatic, and the odds are good you’ll get a response that ranges somewhere from exasperated to enraged. Introduced more than 15 years ago, Black Maple Hill was once a way to get your hands on some very old and rare Kentucky bourbons from pedigreed distillers in a mysterious, atmospheric package. But a couple of years ago, the whiskey in the bottle changed – and according to many, not for the better.

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