The Masters Champions Dinner is among the most exclusive — and revered — evenings in all of sports. Thirty-plus green-coat winners sharing stories of glories past over ribeyes and full-bodied reds? That’s the good stuff.

You won’t soon catch a livestream of the gathering, but this year Augusta National did give us a tantalizing peek behind the drapes by way of a short-form social-media video that shows various scenes from the event: club staffers ironing the tablecloth; kitchen workers in Augusta National-branded chef coats plating dishes; and Scottie Scheffler, the defending champion and dinner’s host this year, noshing on a bite-sized burger.

One quick cut also revealed a rare bourbon that was on offer Tuesday evening: Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye.      

If you’re a whiskey connoisseur, you may be familiar with Van Winkle. If you’re not, you likely won’t be surprised to hear that, like many of the attendees at the Champions Dinner, the whiskey is legendary.

“The Van Winkle line is one of the most respected names out there and most difficult to find,” Tom Fischer, a whiskey journalist and educator who founded Bourbon Blog, told GOLF.com.

Fischer said to earn a “rye” designation, a whiskey needs “at least 51% rye in the mashbill, versus bourbon which needs to be 51% or more corn.” He added, “At 13 years, Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye is layered and well-balanced: think leather, clove, light hints of some floral against serious oak, old library notes, and sweet tobacco.”

When asked if he was surprised to see the rye served at the Champions Dinner, Fischer said, “A bit, because it’s the rarest of the Van Winkles.” Fischer said the distillery doesn’t release numbers as to their whiskeys’ rarity, but that the rye is thought to be the hardest to attain in the Van Winkle lineup.

The whiskey retails for $120 a bottle but “good luck finding it for that,” Fischer said. It’s about as rare as a green jacket. You can pick up a bottle on the secondary market, Fischer said, but expect to fork over at least $1,000 and up to $1,500 or more. “Insane prices,” he said, “but it is where we are at in whiskey.” 

If you’re not into whiskey-hunting or handing over a paycheck for a taste, Fischer recommends a couple of more gettable alternatives: WhistlePig 15 Rye Whiskey or Hard Truth Rye Whiskey. Both are from Indiana, he said, and “both are delicious.”

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