Colonel Randolph 16, Vanished Bourbon Treasure, Is the Latest Release From This Whiskey Revivalist

Commonwealth Distillery was never a famous name, but for many bourbon lovers, it’s a very special place—known as the launching point for some of American whiskey’s most iconic labels, most notably the Old Rip Van Winkle (ORVW) line and its star, Pappy Van Winkle. The story of Commonwealth began in 1983 when Pappy Van Winkle’s grandson, Julian Van Winkle III, acquired the shuttered old Hoffman Distillery in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, converted it into a warehouse and bottling facility, and renamed Commonwealth.

Commonwealth became the Van Winkle outpost after the family had been forced to sell its Stitzel Weller Distillery to a Diageo forerunner company back in 1972. Julian Van Winkle was able to obtain plenty of aging stocks from Stitzel Weller (there wasn’t much demand in those days) and transport them to Commonwealth for aging and bottling, which led to the creation of Pappy. He also bottled a number of other treasured whiskeys at Commonwealth, including A.H. Hirsch, Very Old St. Nick, Hoffman, Old Commonwealth, and Colonel Randolph 16 year old. Van Winkle’s run at Commonwealth came to an end in 2002, when he struck a deal for the ORVW range to be produced and bottled at Buffalo Trace Distillery. Commonwealth was shuttered once again, and soon became a workshop for a local sign maker.

Old Commonwealth Is Born

Fast forward to 2019, when three partners—Zachary Joseph, Andrew English, and Troy LeBlanc—acquired Commonwealth. Tweaking the name to Old Commonwealth, they set out to revive some of the old labels that made the place so renowned. Last fall, the partners relaunched Old Commonwealth 10 year old straight Kentucky bourbon as the new venture's first expression. That one, originally created by Julian Van Winkle III in 1997, sold out almost instantly. Last year Old Commonwealth also brought back Kentucky Nectar, which had last hit the market in 1967. Now it’s ready with its latest revival, Colonel Randolph, a single barrel release, which drops February 6.

Colonel Randolph 16’s Curious History

Of all the whiskey stories to emerge from Julian Van Winkle’s days at Commonwealth, Colonel Randolph’s is probably the most unusual. Its origins trace back to Gordon Hue, the man behind the legendary A.H. Hirsch Reserve, which became the subject of Charles K. Cowdery’s book "The Best Bourbon You’ll Never Taste." Back in the late 1980s, Hue was a retailer who had acquired 766 barrels of bourbon from the former Michter’s Distillery in Schaefferstown, Pennsylvania. He shipped them to Commonwealth for bottling. Since no one cared much about bourbon in the U.S. in those days, the main customer would be Japan, where bourbon was all the rage in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Most of the liquid was bottled under the A.H. Hirsch label, with an exclusivity to Tokyo department store Mitsukoshi. But Hue’s importer in Japan asked for some of the whiskey to be bottled under a different name for a rival department store. Hue discovered the Colonel Randolph label from a Chicago liquor distributor, who allowed him to use it. The same liquid for Hirsch, albeit at a slightly higher ABV of 58%, was bottled as Colonel Randolph. A mere 50 cases of Colonel Randolph 16 were shipped exclusively to Japan, while the rest of the barrels were bottled under the A.H. Hirsch name. The production run for Old Randolph at Commonwealth lasted only a year (1990-1991). This bold, flavorful “deep cut” Colonel Randolph is a rare sighting on auction markets these days, and when it does appear, it fetches five-figure hammer prices.

Tasting Against A.H. Hirsch 16

Old Commonwealth’s revived Colonel Randolph 16 was sourced from an “undisclosed heritage distiller” in Kentucky, and it has the same mashbill—75% corn, 13% rye, and 12% malted barley—as Gordon Hue’s original. To complete the circle, the partners at Old Commonwealth invited Hue to come make the barrel selection, which he was honored to do. Tasting through a selection of four barrels, he made his choice. “Each of the four prospective barrels was very good,” says Hue. “In the end, I selected the barrel that had a whiskey that felt the most complete, one that was exceptionally well integrated. It's a pour you want to come back to, time and again.” At the end of the selection session, Hue did a blind tasting of the 2025 Colonel Randolph 16 and A.H. Hirsch 16 year old, from Hue’s original Pennsylvania barrels. His verdict? The modern version more than measured up.

Colonel Randolph 16 Year Old Bourbon

ABV: 52.5%
SRP: $349
Release date: Online sale for Old Commonwealth VIP customers sale begins February 6 at 11 a.m. EST. To become an Old Commonwealth VIP, sign up at Old Commonwealth’s website.