Old Crow Chessmen

Back in August 2020, through random circumstances, I came to join the New Jersey Bourbon and Yacht Club. A month later, it’s Labor Day weekend. Between work and COVID restrictions, I hadn’t been able to get to any of the group’s meetups. FINALLY, I made it to a member’s house in New Jersey with a nice big backyard. I think I was the last person to arrive…being new to the group, it was kind of like stepping into a new school and having to remember everyone’s name right away. All great guys, all sipping one thing or another, a Glencairn in every hand. 

I grab a Glencairn, take a seat, and the guy across from me says “hey – hold out your glass, I want you to try this” …I brushed off the red flashing lights and said to myself “I’m betting other people here have tried this and they’re still standing, so it’ll be fine”. He pours a dram into my glass, saying only that this is indeed a whiskey and to guess what it is. 

At that point, I had tried around 350-400 different spirits, but I couldn’t claim any great nose or palate for identification. If I get peanuts, I’m going to guess Beam, almonds I’ll guess Heaven Hill, tons of red fruits I’ll guess Four Roses, and if I get Islay peat, I’ll probably guess I should get a new glass. 

This was just…different. It smelled different from any whiskey I’d had yet was definitively bourbon. I swirled it around – it was nearly opaque and looked syrupy rich. A little air suddenly opened the nose up and I viscerally felt happier. I smelled for what must’ve been five minutes just trying to get all the notes and constantly discovering new or stronger ones. I had to taste this. 

The bourbon – he did confirm it was bourbon – exploded on my palate. It wasn’t a hot explosion like a Stagg or a WLW, it was pure bourbon, corn, fruit, vanilla, caramel, toffee, oak, every best part from every distillery. I sat back, half the liquid still untouched, completely dumbfounded. What. The. Fuck. Is. This.

I tried. I threw out a guess – I think I guessed a Four Roses SBLE, but to be honest I don’t remember exactly what I said. He and the guys looking on began to smirk, that smirk you know means “for this moment I’m so happy I know something you don’t”. He sat back, reached behind him, and pulled this out.

HE WAS FREE-POURING OLD CROW CHESSMEN DECANTERS.  

This stuff is legendary. People new to bourbon don’t take long to hear about it. Fred Minnick considers it one of, if not the, greatest bourbon of all time. Around 10 years old, sold in full sets with a giant blanket-type mat, this was beyond any expectation I had. 

Thank God I tasted this blind. The expectations would have been way to high (even if they were fully met). Turns out, he was cruising estate sales and garage sales, and an older couple was selling 62 of these – nearly two full sets – for $800. They didn’t care for alcohol and some relative had left them the set. This guy even told them the value – if this set was full, it was worth $40K easy. Half-full, you’re still talking thousands of dollars. They didn’t care. He came back with a larger car and cleaned them out.

So – here I am, at my first meetup with my new group, trying a legendary dusty bourbon, and I had two choices: I could pull back and say, “yeah this was pretty great, but I’ve had better” or be honest and say, “this is in the top 2-3 bourbons – hell the top 2-3 whiskies worldwide I’ve ever had”. I went with choice two.  

In the months since, I’ve tasted hundreds more whiskies, including three that scored a perfect 10.0/10 (for reference, after trying this three times I gave it a score of 9.2/10 – I know, stone me now). But I’ll never forget that first experience being with my new group of friends, sitting around a table (socially distanced) while the sun sets, trying an insanely rare bourbon that I knew I had to have in my collection if I ever got a chance.

Old Crow Chessmen Specs

Classification: Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Origin: National Distillers

Mashbill: Unknown

Proof: 86 (43% ABV)

Age: ~10 Years Old

Location: Kentucky

Old Crow Chessmen Price: N/A

Old Crow Chessmen: Tasting Notes (Blind)

Eye: Barrel aged maple syrup, almost opaque. Thin-to-medium rims and very slow thin legs.

Nose: Smells dusty - like an old book in a library. Tight at first, but no idea how long this has been closed (or open for that matter), or if it’s a dusty. Air nudges this open and gets a foot in the door, then that door gets obliterated. Highest quality baked goods with vanilla that would make Ina Garten blush. Deep maple syrupy scents, brown sugar and richness. Spicy oak keeps building to counter the fruit and sugar.

Palate: Woody and astringent, huge dark fruit blast and acidic stone fruits. The fruits quickly become the star, though the oak body remains. Next, ripe cherries and more fruits - dates and figs are the powerhouses. Mouthfeel is a bit thin for me, but give that I’m a proof hound I’m kind of discounting that from my evaluation. The proof is never a factor (probably for the same reason). Maple syrup and dark fruitiness keeps developing. An interesting nuttiness develops after air, as does fresh cinnamon sticks and a thickening mouthfeel. The mouthfeel, once thickened, becomes syrupy and silky, mildly coating.

Finish: Incredibly long, fruity all the way for several minutes. The oak stays pleasantly in the background, with a light dryness that makes my mouth water.

Overall: This is fucking delicious. The dark fruits and oak are in perfect harmony. My only wish is that the mouthfeel didn’t have to develop - if it came out of the gate how it finished, this would probably be a 10 all around.

Final Rating: 9.2

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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