Anthony Bourdain's Favorite Bourbon Is A True Kentucky Classic

Anthony Bourdain liked it all — he loved dining on fancy meals at The French Laundry, and he also loved eating a bowl of noodles hunched over on a plastic chair next to a street full of roaring motorcycles. So, when he was asked on a Reddit AMA what his favorite Kentucky Bourbon was, his response could have gone any way. His answer ended up being on the expensive side, saying, "Very very old Fitzgerald, that's some nice stuff."

Depending on the year it was bottled, a bottle of Very Very Old Fitzgerald can cost from around $2,000 to about $22,000. He went on to joke, "If you were to present me with a bottle of very very very very very old Fitzgerald, I don't know if it exists, but man that's good." Sadly, that does not exist. A bourbon this old and rare is not one you want to make any mistakes with, so make sure you sip it instead of shooting it down or mixing it with Coke.

The Old Fitzgerald line of whiskeys started in the 1870s with a version only available on steamships, rail lines, and private clubs. In 1889, it started being sold to the public. During prohibition, it was sold as "medicinal whiskey," which allowed the distillery to stay open. After the 18th Amendment was repealed, the famous "Pappy" Van Winkle guided the distillery. He is the one who added wheat as a secondary grain to the mash bill of Old Fitzgerald, giving it a softer taste.

Starting in the late 1940s, the brand produced collector's editions of its bourbon with the Very Old Fitzgerald. This lasted until the 1980s. Before 1962, "Very Old" was aged 8, 10, and 12 years. After 1962, they produced "Very Xtra Old" as their 10-year-aged bourbon, and in 1964, they added another "Very" to make "Very Very Old" for bottles aged 12, 15, and 18 years. If you want to try one of these, The Office, one of the best bars in America, uses a 1954 Old Fitzgerald Bourbon in their Old Fashioned.