Julian P. Van Winkle Jr.
Julian Van Winkle Jr. the son of the legendary Julian “Pappy” Van Winkle was born in Louisville, Kentucky on February 3, 1914. In 1964, upon the death of his father Pappy, he would run the distillery his father owned, Stitzel-Weller until it was sold in 1972. He began J.P. Van Winkle and Son a bottling and decanter plant. After his son Julian III joined the company in 1977, Old Rip Van Winkle was begun as a side venture for his son.
Julian Van Winkle Jr. had begun working at W.L. Weller and Sons in 1932. At the time he joined his father, they were selling medicinal whiskey made by A. Ph. Stitzel Distillery hoping for prohibition to end. In 1933 he was rolling barrels around helping him bulk up to play football at Princeton University. In 1935 on Derby Day, W.L. Weller and Sons merged with the Stitzel Distillery to become Stitzel - Weller Distilling Company. Julian would continue working at the distillery during summer breaks while away at Princeton until he graduated in 1937. After graduation he became the treasurer of Stitzel - Weller, which was booming due to the popularity of Old Fitzgerald and W.L. Weller brands. In 1941, after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor Julian volunteered for the United States Army.
In February of 1942 he said goodbye to his wife Katie for in - processing at Fort Knox, KY. After that he spent several months at Camp Campbell training. In 1943, he was placed in Command of Company D, 44th Armored Regiment after additional officer training. After more intense training with his men, Van Winkle was promoted to Captain and assumed command of Company A.
In March of 1944, his battalion was deployed to the Pacific theater.
In their run up to the Battle of Leyte in the Philippines, Van Winkle renamed his M4 Sherman tank after Old Fitzgerald, the “Old Fitz”. As he and his men moved from island to island in the Pacific he wrote to his father to keep updated on the happenings with the distillery. One letter he told Pappy that he had looked over one of the company’s monthly statements, which, he noted, “certainly looked good despite the vast decrease in some of the accounts.” He also asked about rising taxes, the distillery’s efforts to provide alcohol to the War Department, and whether Old Fitzgerald whiskey was “finally on sale in L.A.”
During the battle of Breakneck Ridge in the Philippines, Van Winkle was shot by a sniper in his hand that went through his side and out his back. The tankers heard Van Winkle scream, “Damn, that stings!” They were unable to get to him right away because of the sniper. When they did, he was evacuated so that his wound could be treated. Van Winkle declined to be sent back to the states and wanted to be with his men. He wrote in his journal “I have not made many regrettable mistakes in my life but getting shot was certainly one of them.” He finally made his way back first by catching a plane from New Guinea to the Philippines then hitchhiking to his men on the Island of Luzon as General MacArthur was making his assault on Manila. For his wounds and heroic actions he received the Purple Heart and Silver Star.
Late 1945 Van Winkle returned home and rejoined his father, Pappy at Stitzel-Weller as its vice president. While Julian Jr., was away fighting the war, Pappy had hired Charles “King” McClure to head sales and marketing. Soon the three of them would become known as “The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost” in the company.
Julian Jr. became president of Stitzel-Weller in 1947. Under his leadership products such as Old Fitzgerald, Rebel Yell, W.L. Weller and Cabin Still were produced. Julian ran the company until 1972 when he was forced by family co-owners to sell the company to Norton-Simon Company who renamed it the Old Fitzgerald Distillery. The company was then sold again to Distillers Corporation Limited, then again sold to Guiness which then became United Distillers who changed the name back to Stitzel-Weller Distillery. United Distillers went on to be renamed Diageo.
After selling the distillery in 1972, Julian Jr, resurrected a pre-prohibition label and the only one he did not sell rights to with the rest of the company, Old Rip Van Winkle. He used old whiskey stocks from the distillery to start bottling the brand. They had two expressions, a 90 proof and 107 proof both aged 7 years. Julian Jr. went to extremes to keep his fathers legacy alive. He purchased as many Pappy barrels he could find throughout Kentucky. He would drag along his son Julian III with him until he succumbed to cancer in 1981 and the legacy of Pappy Van Winkle was then passed on to him to continue.
In the 1970’s and 80’s with the decline of whiskey, there was a premier liquor store in Kentucky that focused on hard to find exotic wine, cognac and armagnac. Gordy Hue, whose family owned the liquor store Cork N’ Bottle, wondered why no one was doing anything with that bourbon? Gordy’s father who had worked for many years in the industry and met many legends of the bourbon world had worked with distilleries to promote unique bourbons. In order to commemorate our nation’s two hundred year birthday Gordy hand bottled and labeled some 16 year old Willett. He had such fun he decided to go around to other distilleries to purchase their bourbon.
One of his projects he envisioned was a certain squat bottle that was used at Stitzel - Weller. He knew that Julian Jr. had taken some empty bottles when he sold the company to bottle his 7 year Old Rip Van Winkle. One day he decided to call Julian to ask to purchase some. Julian had responded by asking, “Why the hell are you asking to buy my bottles?!” This one call began a relationship between the two men.
One day Julian had told Gordy he need to “Fill some coal miner bottles”. They were ceramic decanters that Julian would fill to sell to help support his family. Gordy asked why he was filling his decanters with his good product when people could care less what was inside. Julian had asked if he had a better idea and said yes he did. Gordy had some glass Cognac bottles he purchased. He told Julian to put his stuff in the glass bottles to make his product look as good as it tasted and charge some real money. When Julian Jr. passed away, this idea was again presented to Julian III.
