
Pappyland
A Story of Family, Fine Bourbon, and the Things That Last
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Narrated by:
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Chris Abernathy
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By:
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Wright Thompson
About this listen
An instant New York Times best seller
From the best-selling author of The Cost of These Dreams
The story of how Julian Van Winkle III, the caretaker of the most coveted cult Kentucky Bourbon whiskey in the world, fought to protect his family's heritage and preserve the taste of his forebears, in a world where authenticity, like his product, is in very short supply.
As a journalist said of Pappy Van Winkle, "You could call it bourbon, or you could call it a $5,000 bottle of liquified, barrel-aged unobtanium." Julian Van Winkle, the third-generation head of his family's business, is now thought of as something like the Buddha of Bourbon - Booze Yoda, as Wright Thompson calls him. He is swarmed wherever he goes, and people stand in long lines to get him to sign their bottles of Pappy Van Winkle Family Reserve, the whiskey he created to honor his grandfather, the founder of the family concern. A bottle of the 23-year-old Pappy starts at $3,000 on the internet. As Julian is the first to say, things have gone completely nuts.
Forty years ago, Julian would have laughed in astonishment if you'd told him what lay ahead. He'd just stepped in to try to save the business after his father had died, partly of heartbreak, having been forced to sell the old distillery in a brutal downturn in the market for whiskey. Julian's grandfather had presided over a magical kingdom of craft and connoisseurship, a genteel outfit whose family ethos generated good will throughout Kentucky and far beyond. There's always a certain amount of romance to the marketing of spirits, but Pappy's mission statement captured something real: "We make fine bourbon - at a profit if we can, at a loss if we must, but always fine bourbon." But now the business had hit the wilderness years, and Julian could only hang on for dear life, stubbornly committed to preserving his namesake's legacy or going down with the ship.
Then something like a miracle happened: It turned out that hundreds of very special barrels of whiskey from the Van Winkle family distillery had been saved by the multinational conglomerate that bought it. With no idea what they had, they offered to sell it to Julian, who scrambled to beg and borrow the funds. Now he could bottle a whiskey whose taste captured his family's legacy. The result would immediately be hailed as the greatest whiskey in the world - and would soon be the hardest to find.
But now, those old barrels were used up, and Julian Van Winkle faced the challenge of his lifetime: how to preserve the taste of Pappy, the taste of his family's heritage, in a new age? The amazing Wright Thompson was invited to be his wingman as he set about to try. The result is an extraordinary testimony to the challenge of living up to your legacy and the rewards that come from knowing and honoring your people and your craft. Wright learned those lessons from Julian as they applied to the honest work of making a great bourbon whiskey in Kentucky, but he couldn't help applying them to his own craft, writing, and his upbringing in Mississippi, as he and his wife contemplated the birth of their first child. May we all be lucky enough to find some of ourselves, as Wright Thompson did, in Julian Van Winkle, and in Pappyland.
©2020 Wright Thompson (P)2020 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“Pappyland is as invigorating as the smell of freshly cut Kentucky bluegrass, and goes down as smoothly as a glass of Pappy's beloved bourbon.” (Shelf Awareness)
“A fast-paced and colorful history of 20th-century Southern culture, told through the story of charismatic cult-bourbon maker Julian P. Van Winkle III....‘Being Southern,’ Thompson writes, ‘means carrying a responsibility to shake off the comforting blanket of myth and see ourselves clearly.’ Thompson more than fulfills that burden with insight and eloquence.” (Publishers Weekly, starred)
“An amiable journey, courtesy of ESPN sportswriter Thompson, into the arcana of American whiskey [...] If you’re a fan of the magic that is an artful bourbon, this is just the book for you.” (Kirkus)
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Story
The Bourbon Drinker's Companion is a narrative journey into the heart of American craft distilleries, taking listeners from the well-known Jim Beam Booker Noe plant to craft whiskey brewers on the West Coast to the emerging new traditional distillers of the South, in search of America's best whiskey. Bestselling author Colin Spoelman is back to celebrate all things whiskey as he explores the effect branding, taste, region, and distilling processes have on America's beloved and most notorious drink.
By: Colin Spoelman
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Whiskey Women
- The Untold Story of How Women Saved Bourbon, Scotch, and Irish Whiskey
- By: Fred Minnick
- Narrated by: James Killavey
- Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Without women, whiskey may not exist. In Whiskey Women, Wall Street Journal-best-selling author Fred Minnick tells the tales of women who have created this industry, from Mesopotamia's first beer brewers and distillers to America's rough-and-tough bootleggers during Prohibition. Women have long distilled, marketed, and owned spirits companies. These strong women built many iconic brands, including Bushmills, Laphroaig, and Maker's Mark.
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Women should be proud of this.
- By Tracy on 01-29-16
By: Fred Minnick
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Whiskey Master Class
- The Ultimate Guide to Understanding Scotch, Bourbon, Rye, and More
- By: Lew Bryson, Bill Lumsden - foreword
- Narrated by: Lew Bryson
- Length: 7 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Over the past three decades, Lew Bryson has been one of the most influential voices in whiskey. In Whiskey Master Class, Lew shares everything he's learned on his journey through the worlds of bourbon, Scotch, rye, Japanese whiskey, and more (yes, there are tasty Canadian and Irish whiskeys!).
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Educational and engaging
- By Adam on 03-26-25
By: Lew Bryson, and others
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Love & Whiskey
- By: Fawn Weaver
- Narrated by: Fawn Weaver
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Abridged
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Love & Whiskey is the true story of Jack Daniel, Nearest Green, the man, and Uncle Nearest, the whiskey company Fawn Weaver founded to honor and amplify Green's legacy. But it’s not the whole story. A bonus chapter in the audiobook edition centers on Weaver's commitment to right the wrongs of history by cementing one man’s legacy for generations to come. It represents a living promise to give a family back the dream that was denied them in a place and time where dreams were not permitted for all.
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Just WOW…
- By Anonymous User on 10-11-24
By: Fawn Weaver
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Proof
- The Science of Booze
- By: Adam Rogers
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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In Proof, Adam Rogers reveals alcohol as a miracle of science, going deep into the pleasures of making and drinking booze—and the effects of the latter. The people who make and sell alcohol may talk about history and tradition, but alcohol production is really powered by physics, molecular biology, organic chemistry, and a bit of metallurgy—and our taste for those products is a melding of psychology and neurobiology.
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Great listening to all about booze
- By Atila on 08-02-14
By: Adam Rogers
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The Bourbon King
- The Life and Crimes of George Remus, Prohibition's Evil Genius
- By: Bob Batchelor
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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October 2019 marks the 100th anniversary of the Volstead Act, which put the enforcement teeth into Prohibition. But the law didn't stop George Remus from cornering the boozy, illegal liquor marketplace and amassing a fortune that eclipsed $200 million (the equivalent of $4.75 billion today). As eminent documentarian Ken Burns proclaimed, "Remus was to bootlegging what Rockefeller was to oil." Author Bob Batchelor has unearthed a treasure trove of untapped historical archives to cover the life, times, and crimes of the man who ran the largest bootlegging operation in America.
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Disappointing
- By Amazon Customer on 06-02-20
By: Bob Batchelor
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The White Bonus
- Five Families and the Cash Value of Racism in America
- By: Tracie McMillan
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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McMillan begins with her family, tracking their modest wealth to its roots: American policy that helped whites first. Simultaneously, she details the complexities of their advantage, exploring her mother's death in a nursing home, at forty-four, on Medicaid; her family's implosion; and a small inheritance from a grandfather. In the process, McMillan puts a cash value to whiteness in her life and assesses its worth.
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Fascinating and so educational
- By Sarah on 01-05-25
By: Tracie McMillan
What listeners say about Pappyland
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- Andrew
- 12-23-20
Fascinating history
The history of the van winkle family is fascinating. This book could use less of the seemingly irrelevant personal stories and random political remarks. You will find yourself fading out in the chapters where the author talks about personal stories instead of focusing on the van winkle family.
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- JSA2024
- 01-10-22
Remembering to honor and ritualize what’s important
Pappyville is as complex as the namesake whiskey that plays one of the central characters in this book. If your looking for a book about the famous VanWinkle line of bourbon you might want to pick up “The Bourbon Hunter”. If you want a biography on Pappy you should most definitely pick up “But Always a Fine Bourbon”. If you want to understand why Pappy is what it is and means today then this is a great starting point. What Julian Van Winkle III a third generation souther gentleman, grandson, son, father, and grandfather did to redeem and persevere his family and their legacy is nothing short of a hero’s tale. But if you were to ask him I’m sure he would respond he was doing what he had to do to get to next week, that may actually be a paraphrase from the book. His pursuit of the mystic Stitzel-Weller taste that may be only still exist in his memory. Learn how a sports writer from the Alabama delta could connect with this man. To understand how the communal moments and memories of life are what should be celebrated. How giving and most importantly sharing fine cigars and whiskey are an important part of male rituals and traditions.
I’ve heard this book described as the Eat, Love, Pray for Fathers and Sons maybe it is.
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- SC in TN
- 05-04-21
Southern, at its finest.
If love Southern traditions, folklore, and culture like I do; you'll absolutely love this book.
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- Michael J.
- 08-11-21
Awesome
Awesome I really enjoyed the book Great story and history of bourbon and van winkles..
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- Tom Hutchins
- 08-22-21
A spoonful of sugar
How can you not pour yourself your favorite cocktail and sit back and enjoy this magical ride.
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- Allan C. Knox
- 05-18-21
great book highly recommend
Great story, great narration. really enjoyed the history and the story of Pappy and the bourbon.
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- Dennis
- 08-29-22
Wonderful listen
This was a wonderful book which brought in the authors personal story along with the VanWinkle history of one of the most sought after bourbons in the world. I would recommend this to any whisky or bourbon fan.
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- Anonymous User
- 09-05-21
Great
Awesome look into the past of Pappy. Well told and intament. I will more than likely lesson to this book again.
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- Amazon Customer
- 10-04-22
good read
the story didn't go where I expected. It was a story of family, perseverance, and dreams more than a story of bourbon. I loved that part of it.
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- Keith Williams
- 02-15-23
great heartfelt book
great book about how bourbon isn't just a drinkcbut a life experience. Really fun to learn how it happens
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