Why call it Ancient Age?

[mbanu]

It seems a bit odd to me that a Bourbon called Ancient Age is one of the youngest currently on the market... so why'd they give it that name? When it came out was 3 years considered a genuinely long time, did it used to be older and they were forced to make cutbacks, or was it always kinda gimmicky?

Anyone know the current age of Ancient Age? Is it all 3-year-old, or do they have some older stock mixed in?

[BourbonJoe]

There is an "Ancient Ancient Age", which is 10 years old.
Joe

[Ken Weber]

Ancient age for a long time used bourbon that was 6 - 7 years old, just because we had plenty of well-aged bourbon on-hand. As we began introducing new premium bourbons, we let this whiskey age a few more years and used it in other brands (Blanton's, Rock Hill Farms, Elmer T. Lee, etc.). The age of AA was gradually brought back down to 4 years, where it has been for a couple of years.

AA has been around for over half a century, so it is is not a new bourbon.

Ken

[Jake_Parrott]

There is an "Ancient Ancient Age", which is 10 years old.
Joe

Also a (confusingly-labeled) "Ancient Ancient Age" 10 _Star_, which I believe is six years old. But it's really good for the price.

[Black85L98]

There is an "Ancient Ancient Age", which is 10 years old.
Joe

Also a (confusingly-labeled) "Ancient Ancient Age" 10 _Star_, which I believe is six years old. But it's really good for the price.

I agree not to bad for the price. Worth a try.

In fact AA at 4 years is not too bad for what you pay for it.

[Edward_call_me_Ed]

AA at four years is a wonderful whiskey. If that was all I had to drink, I would be well satistfied. Still, there are scores of whiskies that are yet more wonderful.
Ed

[Sijan]

regular Ancient Age was my first bottle of bourbon. purchased at a drug store in Lexington for probably about $7-8 while visiting a friend. little did i know then the path that purchase (and a few distillery visits) would lead me down...

[miller542]

why'd they give it that name?

Because it was made at the Ancient Age Distillery.


The Bourbon industry is all about history. Just because the name of the distillery was changed to Buffalo Trace, the company decided to keep the Ancient Age label alive.

This is also why we still have Old Crow, Old Granddad, and others.

[Sijan]

"Because it was made at the Ancient Age Distillery."

Actually, the reverse is true. The distillery was named after the bourbon. Ancient Age bourbon was produced starting in 1946, but the distillery name wasn't changed from Schenley Distillery to Ancient Age Distilling Company until 1969.