Old Crow Whiskey Bottled in the 1970s

ReviewsAmerican WhiskeyBourbonOld CrowDustyNational Distillers

Feb 19

Dr. Crow is one of the most unsung heroes of whiskey history. He was first and foremost a scientist - he was not the first to use the sour mash process, but was the first to scientifically measure such things as pH, ABV, and more as part of his whiskey-making process. More than anything, he sought to perfect our idea of consistency in whiskey-making. His whiskey - Old Crow - did just that for decades. Before Jim Beam took over ownership in the mid-1980s, Old Crow whiskey was owned and produced by National Distillers, a huge conglomerate equal to today’s Diageo or Pernod Ricard.

Just like all bourbons, Old Crow suffered heavily after the 1950s glut. Efforts to bolster sales, unfortunately, went nowhere at the time, but it did leave us dusty hunters with some incredible whiskey (see my writeup on the Old Crow Chessmen, for example, put out just prior to this bottling).

I was fortunate to taste this 1970s bottling alongside the 2020 Old Crow bourbon 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 student of whiskey history, and himself an experimenter (one need only look at his personally-crafted line, Little Book, to see that). I’ll leave the longer discussion of this to the 2020 tasting notes, but suffice to say Freddie has some truly intriguing ideas on how to - and if we should - re-create Old Crow as it once was.

Old Crow Whiskey 86 Proof Specs

Classification: Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Origin: National Distillers

Mashbill: Unknown

Proof: 86 (43% ABV)

Age: 6 Years Old

Location: Kentucky

Old Crow Bourbon Whiskey Price: N/A

Old Crow Whiskey Review: Tasting Notes

Eye: Orange honey. Medium rims hold on to thick droplets, and it looks unusually syrupy in the glass.

Nose: Sweetened black licorice, blood orange citrus. Almond brittle and black cherries. No dustiness at all, all sweet stone fruits.

Palate: Stone fruits, viscous and smooth immediately. Hints of oak around the edges. Black cherries, burnt almonds, like a just-caught brittle. Fresh leather, sweet and newly polished. Mouthfeel is coating, black cherry Dr. Brown’s soda, smooth and viscous.

Finish: Medium length, black cherry and dark chocolate lead with leather adding body. Some oak spice really coats with the chocolate.

Overall: Blind, there’s no way I would say this was 86 proof - it drinks around 100 for sure. Not that it’s overly spicy, but more the mouthfeel and coating nature. The age is perfect - just damn fine whiskey.

Final Rating: 8.5

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)