"Old Charter Seven Years Old"

[Eyemaster]

Help!!!
I need some help getting information on this drink..
My father and I came across a case of it and have not been able to find it at any liquor store.Nobody here (at least not here in San Antonio) sells it and I hav'nt been able to find any info on the internet.You guys here are my last hope.I sure am glad to i found this website,I think it's very informative...Thanks guys....


Joe

[Big Chipper]

The seven year old is the cheapest in that line and should be widely available. For a few bucks more, you should seek out the 10 and especially 12 year old version. It's really quite good.

[BobA]

I think it's been some years since they did the 7 year old, though some may linger in out of the way stores. There is currently an 8 year old, a 10, and a 12 ("The Classic"). There is also a 13 called Proprieter's Reserve, that doesn't seem to have as wide a distribution as the others. I also think I heard that they may be doing away with the 10.

The 12 is a favorite of mine, a very good value, and the one I'd most recommend.

Bob

[Eyemaster]

So,this drink that I have, is it not made anymore..?
(Old Charter Seven Years Old)
Joe

[TNbourbon]

So,this drink that I have, is it not made anymore..?
(Old Charter Seven Years Old)
Joe

No, there has not been a 7yo/86-proof Old Charter since Buffalo Trace has owned the brand. Perhaps even for some time before that.

[cowdery]

Help!!!
I need some help getting information on this drink..
My father and I came across a case of it and have not been able to find it at any liquor store.Nobody here (at least not here in San Antonio) sells it and I hav'nt been able to find any info on the internet.You guys here are my last hope.I sure am glad to i found this website,I think it's very informative...Thanks guys....


Joe

The Old Charter brand is made by Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, Kentucky. It is a regional brand. Its biggest market is Little Rock, Arkansas and most of its sales are in that region. I'm not surprised it isn't available in Texas.

On their web site, they list an 8-year-old, a 10-year-old, a 12-year-old and a 13-year-old. I think the 7-year-old is still in circulation too, though in very limited distribution. The 7-year-old and 8-year-old must be pretty darn close.

I suggest that you go to the web site and us the "Contact Us" function to ask them if they can refer you to a local source for the product or otherwise help you get the product. They usually are very good about doing that.

[Grain Brain]

Just came across a dusty 500 mL bottle, with tax stamp and no gov't warning too (sweet!) in some frontage road 'town' off of I-10 nearabouts Phoenix, AZ.

It's got a real nice flavor to it, and I was curious how it stacked up with current bottlings, so today I bought a half pint of the 8 yr old (there are no new stock 7 yr olds that I can find).

Surprisingly to me, the old stock 7 yr old was darker in color than the new 8 yr old (this was looking at an identical measure in identical glasses). Furthermore, it has a richer flavor to it (same flavor profile, just richer and deeper). This leads me to believe that they used barrels in the past that were more charred than they do now. Otherwise, why else would a 7 yr old be richer and darker than an 8??

Anyway, my advice is that if you like Old Charter's flavor, certainly snag up any old stock, tax stamped bottles you can find.

Oh, and by the way, OC is definitely available in Texas, just not the 7 yr old (that I can tell).

[Grain Brain]

Okay, just saw in another thread how straight bourbon has to be aged in unused, uncharred barrels. I guess that blows my previous conjecture out of the water.

But still, there has to be some difference in the process somewhere, unless the whiskey just changes in the bottle over time.

[Grain Brain]

Okay, this is getting out of control. I went hunting today, and came across a real nice liter of OC 7 yr old, without a gov't warning on it. I was like, "hey great, the same stuff I got before, but more of it!" Well, sort of...

I got home with my stash (another story in itself) and had to compare the liter 7 yr old against the 500 mL 7 yr old. I thought surely they had to have the same character, but no way. The new liter was more rich and malty than the 500 mL. I was confounded. And, odd as it may sound, to me at least it had a honey graham cracker taste to it. Now, I checked both 7 yr olds against the new stock 8 yr old, and they both just blew it away; but again, they were quite disimilar from each other. The 500mL was crisp and a bit hot, whereas the liter was malty rich, and slightly sweet. I was utterly, astoundingly mired in confusion comparing labels (they should be the same damned whiskey, after all, right???), until I finally stumbled upon the fact that the 1 L was 80 proof, while the 500 mL was 86 proof.

So there you go - a mere 3% can have a major effect; not only (in my estimation) does old stock 7 yr OC have more character than OC 8 yr, but there are two distinctly different old stock 7 yr. olds. Trippy.

Neither was 'better' than the other in regards to flavor (its simply up to personal preference, as the 80% is malty sweet where the 86% is light dry). But the advantage either has over the modern 8 yr is that they both have ample flavor that is easily double what's in the modern 8 yr.

[wispotsill]

My favorite bourbon, when I started drinking in Alabama in the early 90's was old charter. It had a rich honey flavor, with a good rye backbone. Then the taste changed almost overnight. Anyway I was in the abc store about 5 years ago and saw an old charter bottle seven year old with a faded torn label. I wish I would have bought it. The way it looked it could have been from the 70's, it was probably hidden in some old stock and had been found because they had just moved into a new store. It was probably from the old belmont distillery, I would have got it but some old stock of jim beam rye caught my eye instead.