This Expensive Kentucky Bourbon Was One Of Anthony Bourdain's Absolute Favorites

The late chef, author, and TV personality Anthony Bourdain was no snob when it came to food. He had some controversial food takes, like his love of Waffle House and his belief that fast food mac and cheese is fantastic. When it came to Kentucky bourbon, on the other hand, he did have some high-end tastes. In fact, one of his absolute favorites boasts some incredibly pricey bottles and includes some rare picks that you'd be lucky to find.

It's Old Fitzgerald, which officially dates back to the 1880s and is still made today. But it wasn't just any bottle of Old Fitzgerald he loved. Bourdain had a thing for Very Very Old Fitzgerald, a limited series of bottlings only put out from the early 1960s through the 1980s that today can cost thousands of dollars. For example, in September 2025, one extremely rare bottle went for more than $100,000. Still, Bourdain knew what he liked. "My favorite Kentucky bourbon? Very Very Old Fitzgerald, that's some nice stuff," Bourdain wrote in a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) post in 2016. "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."

First produced in 1870 in Frankfort, Kentucky, the bourbon was branded as Old Fitzgerald (named for distiller John E. Fitzgerald) in 1884. Following a change in producers, Prohibition, and a merger, the Stitzel-Weller Distillery produced Old Fitzgerald under the leadership of the famous master distiller Julian "Pappy" Van Winkle. He turned Old Fitzgerald into a wheated bourbon, meaning the second grain in its mash bill after corn is wheat, which tends to give it a sweeter, milder flavor. It was under Van Winkle that the first Very Very Old Fitzgerald bottlings were produced that would encompass 12- to 18-year-old bourbon. It was often bottled in bond, meaning its production had to adhere to strict standards, including being bottled at 100 proof. 

The reasons Very Very Old Fitzgerald is so expensive include the age of the bourbon, the connection to Pappy Van Winkle, and its very limited supply. Additionally, the original distillery closed in 1994 (before being revived by Heaven Hill in 1999), all adding up to one very, very expensive bourbon. Anthony Bourdain was lucky enough to get to taste these pricey bottlings thanks to a friend, the chef Sean Brock, who Bourdain claimed was "constantly coming up with these freakishly rare bottles of bourbon," per the Reddit AMA. Bourdain may not have been a food snob, but his taste in bourbon was definitely very, very fancy.