Pittsburgh bars snag rare bottles of Pappy Van Winkle bourbon

Cameron Lehman, bar manager for Muddy Waters Oyster Bar in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty neighborhood, knows how far whiskey-lovers will travel for a sip of a rare spirit. He often sees visitors from out of state, who come to sample one of about 75 whiskeys Muddy Waters has on offer.

“When people come in and they take a look at our whiskey shelf, I love seeing that look in their eyes,” Lehman said.

The bar recently got a new bottle with plenty of prestige: Pappy Van Winkle’s 20-Year-Old Family Reserve Bourbon.

Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery’s bourbons are wildly popular, and so rare that the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board distributes bottles by lottery. Individuals, bars and restaurants must enter for a chance to buy a bottle from the Kentucky distillery. Prices range from $99.99 to $399.99, depending on the rarity.

This year’s lottery was conducted last month.

The state only had 23 bottles of Van Winkle’s rarest bourbon, aged for 23 years, available to sell. Five of those bottles were made available to bars and restaurants, and they were all won by establishments east of the Alleghenies.

However, a few Pittsburgh-area establishments managed to snag one of 17 available bottles of the slightly-less-rare 20-year variety, including Muddy Waters Oyster Bar.

The state sold bottles of the 20-year bourbon for $249.99

“It’s always awesome to add new stuff to the shelf,” Lehman said.

Muddy Waters already had bottles of Pappy Van Winkle’s 10-year and 15-year bourbons from previous lotteries, according to Lehman.

The bar will sell the 20-year bourbon for $95 an ounce.

Peter Kurzweg, co-owner of Independent Brewing Company in Squirrel Hill, said he thinks the hype around Pappy Van Winkle is overblown, though he’s happy his establishment won a bottle of the 20-year.

“I do not think Pappy Van Winkle is the be-all-end-all of bourbons,” he said. “The way the lottery works is you kind of put in for everything, and you hope you get one.”

His new bottle of bourbon is destined to sit on a shelf for a while — Independent Brewing Company is closed for indoor dining, and he can’t sell bourbon to-go. He hasn’t decided what to charge, but Independent Brewing Company has won bottles of Pappy Van Winkle in the past and sold them for $50 an ounce.

“We do our best not to gouge,” he said. “There are a lot of bars and restaurants in town that would charge $200 an ounce for it, that’s just not our style.”

Two other Allegheny County establishments won bottles of Pappy Van Winkle 20-year bourbon. Pomodoro Pizzeria and Ristorante in Wexford could not be reached for comment, while a manager for Monte Cello’s on Babcock Boulevard in Ross said he was unaware of the restaurant’s lottery win.

Van Winkle’s other, less-rare offerings were won by dozens of establishments in Westmoreland and Allegheny counties, according to data from the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board