No age statement on Old Overholt anymore....

[ethangsmith]

I noticed the "Four Years Old" statement in the lower right corner is now gone on Old Overholt. I bought a bottle to compare it to the trickle of my old bottle I have left. The new stuff is about as good as the garbage Wild Turkey 81 rye. It's pee yellow with no nose. It has little flavor and is very grainy and young. The old bottle I had at least had hints of leather and spice- this is just grain and flatness. So now I wonder what makes the Old Overholt different than the Beam yellow label rye.....

[HighInTheMtns]

I noticed the "Four Years Old" statement in the lower right corner is now gone on Old Overholt. I bought a bottle to compare it to the trickle of my old bottle I have left. The new stuff is about as good as the garbage Wild Turkey 81 rye. It's pee yellow with no nose. It has little flavor and is very grainy and young. The old bottle I had at least had hints of leather and spice- this is just grain and flatness. So now I wonder what makes the Old Overholt different than the Beam yellow label rye.....

Since 4 years old and NAS mean the same thing, I wonder what has changed?

[Bourbon Boiler]

That is a strange one. I doubt their making it older and keeping it a secret. Maybe they assume most buyers don't understand the requirement, and they want it to "seem" older?

[smknjoe]

I didn't know that there was a requirement for labeling rye that was aged less than 4 years. I thought it was just for bourbon.

[HighInTheMtns]

I didn't know that there was a requirement for labeling rye that was aged less than 4 years. I thought it was just for bourbon.

All straight whiskey, at least.

[smknjoe]

Thanks for the heads up! I didn't know that.

[ethangsmith]

I just took a second look at the bottle- in small print on the back of the bottle neck "Three Years Old."

My taste buds did not deceive me. This stuff is young garbage.

[squire]

Ack, will this madness never cease. I expect the next thing will be a price increase.

[ethangsmith]

At $20, they will price themselves out of the market.

Here's the million dollar question- what makes the new Overholt different than the Beam yellow label rye?????

[oke&coke]

What was the age on it previously?

[HighInTheMtns]

I guess that as you discovered, the difference is one year in the barrel, and barrel selection of course. Same as the difference between Old Crow and JBW?

What was the age on it previously?

It was 4.

[ethangsmith]

Four years on the front label. This was the first thing I noticed when I picked up the bottle. I totally missed the Three Years Old label on the back of the neck until I took a second look at the bottle a few moments ago.

[Lazer]

have you noticed that the label look like a dollar bill?

I have one of the 4yr bottles open. I'm pretty close to pouring it out. too young for my taste.

[kickert]

...what makes the new Overholt different than the Beam yellow label rye?????

In my opinion... Nothing! They are two of the most disgusting whiskeys I have ever tasted. I find them oily/soapy with no redeeming tastes to cover it.

[squire]

Wonder if the decision process went any further than "Hey! We can cash in on this Rye fad".

Edited January 13, 2013 by squire

[PaulO]

Sometimes I would get the taste of roasted peanuts from Overholt. The last bottle I bought has been in the cabinet for a long time. I thought Beam Rye was much worse. It just wasn't good at all. This saved me from wasting any money on R1. All this, and I'm a big fan of rye. I really like Rittenhouse, the various versions of LGI, Saz, and others.

[Brisko]

At $20, they will price themselves out of the market.

Here's the million dollar question- what makes the new Overholt different than the Beam yellow label rye?????

Well, if I'm not mistaken, Beam is still 4 years old. I've only been drinking them for a couple years but I've always found them to be quite similar, although the Overholt sometimes tasted younger even if it wasn't. The last bottle of Beam rye I had (purchased a couple of months ago) was pretty grainy and young, too, even at 4 years old.

In this market Overholt has been about $10 for a 750. Which was a deal even if it didn't taste that great, it was still good for mixing with ginger ale in the summer.

I wonder how much rye they had to divert into the Knob Creek brand? That would account for the change.

[GaryT]

At $20, they will price themselves out of the market.

Here's the million dollar question- what makes the new Overholt different than the Beam yellow label rye?????

$20 a bottle??? I just bought my first bottle the other night for $9.99. I haven't opened it yet, nor had much experience with it in the past (had it a couple times and thought it was alright - and maybe better than alright for $10). I just double checked and mine is 3 yrs old also . . . so thanks for the heads up on what to expect :frown:

[MauiSon]

Guess Ima gonna stock up some, I like OO 4year and it's always cheaper than Beam Yellow here.

[tmckenzie]

Reading this I remembered I had some PA distilled overholt. What a difference a couple or 3 decades makes. I remember the first time I had OO from Beam. it was late 90's. Bought it in KY. It had such a lovely rye not to it. And it was markedly different at that time from Beam rye.

[squire]

Ain't it the truth Tom, and to think three decades ago we took Overholt for granted. I don't blame Beam for dumbing down the product and keeping the price up, they're in business to make money, but I can't help wondering if they're pulling a Taylor/Crow act here to move customers away from the baseline Ryes and on to their higher priced Ryes.

[JB64]

I picked up my first bottle of OO a few weeks ago. Considering the $10 price I felt it was a really decent pour. After reading this thread I checked my bottle and it has a 4 year age statement. I plan on picking up a few more of the 4 year old bottles since they are going the way of the dinosaurs.

[MauiSon]

I visited my favorite store today and bought their last two 4-year bottles. They had some of the newer 3-year stuff, too, but I haven't tried it. I paid $12/750, tax included. I like this rye quite a bit, it's easy drinking and a good ginger-ale rye. I always get a taste of gum that I haven't found elsewhere. I worry, tho, if maybe they used up old 4-year labels on the first release of the 3-year juice. I guess I'll know when i taste it.

Edited February 4, 2013 by MauiSon

[squire]

No, the law doesn't permit the label to state an age greater than the youngest whisky in the bottle.

[MauiSon]

. . . and no one ever breaks the law, as we all know.

The Beam Global site still advertises it as 4 years old. Wikipedia has it as 3 years old, but shows a bottle of the 4 year old.

Edited February 5, 2013 by MauiSon