How Old Overholt went from a Leading Brand to Bottom Shelf and Back

Old Overholt labesl from 2012-2023

When Abraham Overholt died in 1870, his company A. Overholt & Co. was well on its way to becoming one of the largest whiskey distillers in the country. Originally, the company branded its whiskey as Old Farm Pure Rye, but in 1888, 18 years after Abraham’s death, they renamed the brand Old Overholt and added his likeness to the logo in his honor. Up until Prohibition the distillery remained largely under family control but when Henry Clay Frick, the last remaining family member passed away in 1919 he left his ownership stake in the distillery to his friend and banking magnate Andrew Mellon. The following year President Harding selected Mellon to be his Secretary of the Treasury, and after a public pressure campaign Mellon sold the distillery to the New York grocers Park & Tilford. But before that, Mellon helped A. Overholt & Co. secure one of the very limited distilling licenses that allowed the company to continue producing “medicinal whiskey” throughout Prohibition. Because of this, Overholt survived while many other distilleries of that era closed, never to reopen.

After Prohibition, a new conglomerate called National Distillers purchased Overholt and continued making its eponymous whiskey at the A. Overholt Distillery in Broad Ford, PA. Old Overholt became one of the five core brands for National Distillers along with Old Taylor, Old Granddad, Old Crow, and Mount Vernon, a straight rye from Maryland. But, despite the post WWII economic boom rye whiskey sales were beginning to slow and in 1951, National Distillers closed the Broad Ford distillery though they continued to source Pennsylvania rye whiskey for the brand. As the years passed on and whiskey sales continued to slump into the 1980s, National Distillers eventually went broke and in 1987, the James B. Beam Distilling Company purchased Old Overholt, Old Crow, Old Granddad and Olt Taylor (which they eventually sold to Sazerac). At that point Beam decided to move production of Old Overholt from Pennsylvania to Kentucky, changed the mash bill to the minimum 51% rye and drop the bottling strength to 80 proof.

For about 27 years Old Overholt sat as bottom shelf whiskey overshowed by other more popular whiskeys in the Beam portfolio. In 2012, Beam dropped the 4 year aged statement down to 3, just as they had done with Old Corw. But, in 2013, something changed and Beam attempted to bring more attention to Old Overholt and its other “Old” whiskey brands, Old Crow, and Old Granddad. At that time nothing had substantially changed but in 2017, the now Beam Suntory began to get label approval for several new Old Overholt expressions. For the first time in about 30 years, Beam Suntory re-released a bonded version of Old Overholt which cause quite a buzz among whiskey writes and bartenders. And, two years later in 2019, Beam Suntory increased the standard bottling strength from 40% to 43% ABV. From then on there has been a steady release of new Old Overholt expressions which has helped to revitalize the brand from its bottom shelf ignominy to a brand that is once again well respected and sought after by American whiskey fans. It has been exciting to see Beam Suntory put some money and effort into supporting this historic brand by creating new and interesting offerings such as the return of the 4-year age statement on the standard bottle, the 11 Year Old Cask Strength, and the A. Overholt Straight Rye made with a traditional Pennsylvania rye whiskey mash bill. Hopefully this trend will continue and who knows what we will see in the future for this more than 200-year-old brand.

Below is a list of the Old Overholt label approvals that help tell the story of how Old Overholt moved from the bottom shelf to a well-respected brand.

• August 2012: Old Overholt Straight Rye Whiskey 40% ABV Three Years Old

• August 2017: Old Overholt Bonded Straight Rye Whiskey

• August 2019: Old Overholt Straight Rye Whiskey 43% ABV (still 3 years old)

• August 2019: Old Overholt Bottled-in-Bond Straight Rye Whiskey (new wording)

• March 2020: Old Overholt Straight Rye Whiskey 114 Proof 4 Year Special Release

• April 2020: Old Overholt Straight Rye Whiskey 11 Year 46.3% ABV

• November 2020: Old Overholt Straight Rye Whiskey 114 Proof Aged 4 Years

• October 2021: Old Overholt Straight Rye Whiskey Aged 4 Years 43% ABV

• April 2022: A. Overholt Straight Rye Whiskey Aged 4 Years 47.5% ABV

• April 2023: Old Overholt Cask Strength Straight Rye Whiskey Aged 10 Years

• September 2023: Old Overholt Cask Strength Straight Rye Whiskey Aged 11 Years

No you should not expect to pay $10 per year of age for a bottle of Bourbon or Rye Whiskey

Recently I have been spending more time lurking on the r/bourbon subreddit and watching a variety of Whiskey Tube channels to get a sense of how engaged consumers are talking about American whiskey and what they think is worth spending their money on. One of the more common axioms in these spaces is the idea that a fair retail price for a bottle of bourbon or rye whiskey is around $10 for each year it aged in a barrel. At first glance I can understand where this idea might have come from but if we interrogate the idea, it quickly breaks down.

Most whiskey fans are well aware of angel’s share, the fact that spirits stored in oak barrels slowly evaporates so the volume of liquid that went in is not how much that comes out after four, eight or twelve years. Because of angel’s share, there is a real cost for distillers to age a whiskey longer because there will be less of it each extra year they wait before bottling. So, in real terms older whiskey costs a distiller more to bottle than younger whiskey. However, as the production capacity of a distillery grows, they are able to produce the same whiskey with greater economies of scale because buying grain by the truck loads or rail cars costs less per pound than by 2000lb totes. The same is also true for any other hard goods like bottles, labels, or closures. Large distilleries are also more efficient with their time since there is less down time for their stills and fermenters compared to small distillers that can only run one or two production shifts with significant down time for their equipment. So generally smaller distilleries have higher fixed cost per bottle because they are less “efficient” with their capital. This is why a blanket price metric doesn’t make a lot of sense.

Many craft bourbons and rye whiskeys are priced higher than $10 per year of age because of these higher fixed costs and a more constrained supply. Garrison Brothers Small Batch Bourbon and Old Crow Bourbon are both aged for three years but the former retails for $80 a bottle and the later sits on the bottom shelf at about $12 for 750ml. Garrison Brothers is pot distilled using a more expensive locally grown corn, and the intense climate in the Texas Hill Country means they have a much higher angel’s share than most Kentucky Bourbons. Despite having the same age statement these are two very different bourbons and even if you don’t know all the exact production details, on taste alone, $30 for Old Crow would be highway robbery and an incredible deal for Garrison Brothers.

Conversely, many great bourbons from the heritage distillers in Kentucky and Tennessee are priced below $10 per year. Russel’s Reserve 10 Year Old Bourbon retails for about $44 and George Dickel Bottled in Bond which ranges between 11 and 13 years old has a suggested retail price of $40! Now I would be willing to pay a little more for these because the quality is there, I also have no interest in paying $100 or more for these whiskeys just because of their age. In reality the price for these whiskeys is not just about age. Weller 12 Year Old has an SRP around $43 but you’d be lucky to find it most places below $150 because of its limited availability and the all the hype around it and Pappy Van Winkle.

Now whether it is worth it to you to pay $200 for Weller 12, $40 for George Dickel BIB at 13 years or less than $20 for the four year old Evan Williams Bottled in Bond is a completely subjective decision informed by your income and what you value. But the idea that it is “fair” to pay $10 per year of age for American whiskey is a silly metric that doesn’t reflect the whiskey market. In reality, this just sounds like a made up “fact” that some salesman came up with as a way to convince people that its ok for them to spend $80 on an otherwise mid 8 year old whiskey.

Buy what you like and spend what you feel comfortable with but I’m sorry to say that setting a fair price for bourbon and rye whiskey is more complicated than simply how long it was aged.

How to Use Texas Whiskey and Bourbon in Cocktails

Texas Whiskey is known for its bold character due to its intense aging environment. Some might struggle with how to use these spirits in cocktails so here is a little history that can help guide us.

For those who only know Texas through the movies, it is easy to imagine the state pre-prohibition to be a huge expanse of brushy grazing land dotted with cattle, and a few cowboys who fiercely value their independence. While there have been and are areas where this is true, Texas also had large cosmopolitan cities well respected for their contribution to cocktail culture. In the 19th Century, several travelers recoded their experiences and observations while traveling through Texas and remarked on the array of grog shops, taverns, saloons, and ornate hotel lounges available for drinking. With that in mind, here are two drinks, one simple and one more sophisticated, that could work with Texas whiskey both then and now.

Texas Grog

One of the advantages of the intense Texas climate is that you can get a more mature tasting whiskey with less aging time than a similar whiskey from Kentucky, Tennessee, or Indiana. For most young whiskey it is best mixed with colas or sodas to mask its youth but young Texas whiskeys can work both as sippers or in cocktails. Inspired by the 19th Century Texas grog shops, I came up with a light and refreshing drink that pairs great with Texas bourbon.

• 2oz bourbon (Treaty Oak’s Ghost Hill Texas Bourbon, or Blackland Bourbon work well)

• 2oz water

• ½oz fresh orange juice (fresh not bottled OJ is key)

• ½oz simple syrup

• 2 dashes Angostura Bitters

Shake all the ingredients with ice and strain into a double Old-Fashioned glass with fresh ice.

The Improved (Texas) Whiskey Cocktail

In the 1830s Huston, was no backwater town, so while Texans are known for being hard working and free spirited, they are certainly not barbarians. One could have walked into a fancy hotel bar and found an array of spirits such as cognac, gin, rums from Jamaica and Cuba, and whiskeys from Tennessee, Kentucky, Maryland, Ireland, and Scotland. In addition, wines such as claret, port, madeira, hock, burgundy, sherry, and champagne were available from several merchants in the city. Given this wide variety of regional and imported beverages an Improved Whiskey Cocktail would have been great option for a m1ore sophisticated drink.

• 1 sugar cube (1tsp white sugar or ¼oz simple syrup)

• 1 bar spoon (¼oz) maraschino liqueur

• 1 dash Angostura Bitters

• 1 dash Peychaud’s Bitters

• 1 dash absinthe

• 2oz bourbon (Balcones’s Texas Pot Still Bourbon or Garison Brothers Texas Small Batch Bourbon will work well)

• 2in lemon peel for garnish

In an Old-Fashioned glass, add the sugar, maraschino, bitters, absinthe, and muddle them for about 30 seconds (if using simple syrup skip the muddling). Add the bourbon and a large ice cube and stir again until chilled. Twist or pinch the lemon peel over the glass to express the oils, then drop it into the drink.

Recipe for Homemade Nocino

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Results from DIY Spirit Aroma Kit

It worked!

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Some time ago I looked at using an aroma kit to help improve my ability to pick out and identify aromas in the spirits that I drink. You can buy an aroma kit but those tend to start around $150 and go up to $450, which is a bit steep for me. And, given the fact that some of the customer reviews are less than stellar, I decided to try and make my own kit. I ended up making 13 bottles with common gin botanicals all for less than $30!

After letting the botanicals to macerate for a month of so, the aromas were still clear but I did notice one issue. While I only filled the bottles 2/3 with botanicals, some of the more fibrous botanical like cardamon, anise seeds, and licorice root absorbed a lot of the vodka and swelled to completely fill the bottle where as more woody botanicals like cinnamon and star anise stayed the same size. So if you make your own aroma kit, make note of which botanicals might be more absorbent than others.

Besides this absorbency issue, the aroma samples worked well. From time to time I would sit down with the bottles, unscrew the lid, and smell the aroma moving the opening back and forth between each nostril.

Being able to pick out and describe aromas in spirits has a lot to do with memory. Our eyes or ears take in information from specific wave lengths of light or sound and those are interpreted by our brains as colors and pitch. But with smell, little particles of the things we eat, drink, or inhale, touch receptors that extend from the olfactory bulb in our brain and we interpret that information based on our memory. It is believed that this link between smell and memory helps humans to avoid eating spoiled food or drinking contaminated water. And, this smell memory may have helped our hunter-gatherer ancestors to remember high calorie foods like fruits that are higher in natural sugar and vitamins.

In my experience, interpreting aromas exists on three levels.

1. Is the aroma good or bad?

2. Is the aroma familiar or unfamiliar?

3. Can I describe or name the aroma with a word or words?

I believe using my kit did help me move some of the aromas from the second level of, is it familiar to the third level of, it is familiar and I my brain remembers the name of that smell. If you are interested in improving your smell memory, making and occasionally using a spirits aroma kit will help.