Pappyland -- Book Signing and Bourbon Tasting with Wright Thompson

111 South Spring Street,Tupelo MS 38804

19 November, 2021

Description

Join Reeds GumTree Bookstore for a bourbon tasting and author event with Wright Thompson. Reed’s GumTree Bookstore is thrilled to present an evening of books and bourbon with Wright Thompson. Tickets include a copy of Pappyland, a bourbon tasting provided by Tupelo Wine & Spirits, and light snacks. Thompson will give brief remarks at 5:15 pm, which will be followed by several exciting giveaways. Ticketing: There are 3 ticket options for this event: • A one person/one book general admission ticket costs $50 and includes admission to the event for one person and one copy of Pappyland. • A two person/one book general admission ticket costs $55 and includes admission to the event for two people and one copy of Pappyland. • A signed book ONLY ticket costs $29.50 and includes no admission to the event, but includes a personalized copy of Pappyland for pickup at Reed’s. Perfect for those who can’t attend but would like a copy of Pappyland to be personalized by Wright Thompson. Additional signed copies of Pappyland will be available for purchase at the event. About the book: 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 $3000 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. About the Author: Wright Thompson is a senior writer for ESPN and the bestselling author of The Cost of These Dreams. He lives in Oxford, Mississippi with his family.