Old Crow
As I wrote in my 1970s Old Crow notes, I was fortunate to taste this 2020s bottling alongside the 1970s Old Crow on an ABV Network event with Freddie Noe, Jim Beam’s 8th-generation distiller. Freddie is a fascinating figure in whiskey - no family is more historically endowed than the Beams/Noes, but Freddie doesn’t just rest on laurels - he is a a student of whiskey history, and himself an experimenter (one need only look at his personally-crafted line, Little Book, to see that).
Freddie went into detail about trying to recreate Old Crow “as it once was”. Tasting side-by-side, it’s clear that the Old Crow of today is not the Old Crow of, well, old (though I have to say it held up much better than I expected). At right around 4 years and 80 proof, it’s not meant to blow you away - it’s meant to be an easy-drinking whiskey you can find for $10 on the shelf. According to Freddie, profile-wise Old Crow is taken from around the 5th floor of a vertical cross-section of Jim Beam’s warehouses.
In one of the most interesting segments of this tasting, Freddie said that he is actually interested in pulling Old Crow from the shelves and trying to re-create the Old Crow brand as it was - the biggest impediment? Volume. Old Crow may not make much per bottle but as volume/case sales go, it makes a tremendous amount of money for Beam Suntory.
Freddie also discussed his ongoing efforts to try that re-creation: one, for example, centered on chemicals found in National Distillers’ (ND) Old Crow that is dangerous and illegal now - ethyl-carbamate: you know it better as urethane. It’s not something intentionally introduced, but rather a byproduct of the process and the interior coating of older glass bottles. In large quantities, this chemical can blind you, cause cancer, and ultimately kill. In ND’s Old Crow, there’s three times today’s legal limit of ethyl-carbamate. It’s unclear what flavor impact urethane has on the liquid, and with its known effects it’s virtually impossible to test that. Lacking the ability to perfectly re-create the old magic, Freddie and we students of history must do the best we can - drink the (old) Old Crow we can find and enjoy the new Old Crow for what it is.
Old Crow Specs
Classification: Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Origin: Jim Beam Distillery
Mashbill: Unknown
Proof: 80 (40% ABV)
Age: 4 Years Old
Location: Kentucky
Old Crow Price: $10
Old Crow: Tasting Notes
Eye: Liquid gold. Medium rims bleed syrupy droplet legs.
Nose: Definitely young based on the oak, but there’s nuttiness there, too. Brown sugar caramel and sweet corn, honeysuckle and apricot.
Palate: Toasty peanuts. A solid oak profile without being too young, like the one peanut in a Cracker Jack’s box that’s coated in caramel and sugar. Light-to-medium mouthfeel with some fruity notes - stone fruits especially, but it’s really a nutty show.
Finish: Oak comes up a bit woody and spicy, but surprisingly smooth and medium-length. Carries the nuttiness forward.
Overall: Look, a $10 whiskey or bourbon isn’t really designed to win awards. That being said, this held up much better than I expected it to. I may not add this to my shelf, but I can’t ding Beam for its product here.
Final Rating: 5.3
10 | Insurpassable | Nothing Else Comes Close (Blanton’s Straight from the Barrel)
9 | Incredible | Extraordinary (GTS, Elijah Craig Barrel Proof B518 and B520)
8 | Excellent | Exceptional (12+YO MGP Bourbon, Highland Park Single Barrels)
7 | Great | Well above average (Blanton’s Original, Old Weller Antique, Booker’s)
6 | Very Good | Better than average (Four Roses Small Batch Select, Knob Creek 14+ YO Picks)
5 | Good | Good, solid, ordinary (Elijah Craig Small Batch, Buffalo Trace, Old Grand-Dad Bottled-in-Bond)
4 | Sub-par | Many things I’d rather have (A.D. Laws Four Grain, Compass Box “Oak Cross”)
3 | Bad | Flawed (Iron Smoke Bourbon, Balcones)
2 | Poor | Forced myself to drink it (Buckshee Bourbon and Rye)
1 | Disgusting | Drain pour (Virginia Distilling Co. Cider Cask)
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