244. Old Overholt 114 Proof Rye Whiskey

Welcome to another trip down the Bourbon Road with your hosts Jim and Mike. So grab a glass of your favorite bourbon and kick back.

Well, you know who likes to give back to their community is one of our sponsors, Jim. Chris Cruz from Cruz Customs Flags. He does custom flags out of bourbon barrels. Not only does that, he do that, but he's also using veterans to build those flags with. I've got one right behind me, Jim. I know you got one on your bar. Beautifully handcrafted, repurposing a bourbon barrel, not throwing it away, not making it into smoking chips, making a piece of Americana, right?

Cause something that'll last probably quite a few years longer than a bourbon barrel would, right?

Not only that, but he's using veterans to build those pieces of art with, you know, you gotta love that. But he's also giving back to his community at all times, helping veterans out like ourselves. Um, He is really in tune to that. Go check his site out. Uh, cruise customs flags.com. You can buy his flags on their key holders. Heck. Jim's got some, uh, these neat little cups that are chart inside made out of oak that you can put a cocktail in.

They call those the whiskey grail, don't they?

Yeah, that is kind of reminds you, you know, when you think of a grail, but truly a whiskey grail right there. Go check those out at Cruz Customs Flags. Purchased from this guy, veteran owned, veteran operated, making a veteran built product.

Hello, everybody. I'm Jim Shannon. And I'm Mike Hyatt. And this is the Bourbon Road. And today, Mike, we are underground in the bunker.

It's been a minute since I've been over here.

It has been a little bit. You just got back from your Texas trip.

Yeah. Yeah. And I can see your bar is starting to overflow with whiskey.

You run out of room. Yeah. We were in my basement. This is the Bourbon Bunker. Today, this is the Rye Bunker.

Yeah. Well, I brought over a Not new, but pretty new to the market rye whiskey. And I knew I saw this and my face just lit up. I was like, Jim is going to love this right here. I think this came out in 2020.

So it's kind of new. You know, it's been around a little while, but probably not.

Everybody's picked it up yet. Probably not, but worth the pickup, I think. And we're going to find out real fast here, but it is old overholt 114 proof. Now, a lot of people might think old granddad is what? 114. 114, they got 114 proof whiskey.

So, you know, are they trying to stick along those lines? Yeah, they kind of mentioned something about kind of the traditional history for, you know, prohibition era rise was to be around 114 proof.

Yeah. Yeah. They actually put that on this bottle right here. A lot of people might not realize how old old overhaul really is. 1810 up in Pennsylvania, the longest continuous running distillery around. It's not up in Pennsylvania anymore.

But we've changed hands a few times over the years. And one thing that's really impressive, I think, is coming out of prohibition, national distilleries ended up with that brand. They ended up with a lot of brands. And after the war, whiskeys kind of fell out of favor a bit with the market. And we've seen that in the recent past as well. Well, recent past being 20, 30 years ago. But Old Overhope continued to be the only nationally distributed rye whiskey throughout that time.

That's pretty dang amazing. Now the guy on the bottle, his first name's not old. Abraham was his first name and Oberholtz wasn't their real name. They had to change that family name when they came to America. Why they did that, I don't know. Somebody misspelled it wrong and they stuck with that. But his father was Henry Oberholtz, a German Mennonite farmer. That's a pretty cool stuff right there. You think back about that tradition and a lot of people think with your heritage, right? Scottish, Irish, the Germans. In the last couple of episodes we've had, we found out that rye is really a German thing.

Yeah, it's definitely a German thing. And rye continues to be a big staple crop of that area. So we do know that rye was also the first whiskey of the New World, right?

Yeah.

For westward movement, before they got into corn country, you know, they were making rye whiskey.

Yeah, I think we said in episode 1640 up in Boston, Massachusetts, was the first documented whiskey in America. That's not meaning it was the first whiskey being made.

I'm sure somebody had a steel somewhere producing it. They just don't want to be taxed on it, right? Right. Now it was coming out of the steel and it was going in a barrel, but it wouldn't stand in the barrel very long. This barrel was just for transport.

Yeah. And I'm sure it wasn't charred.

It wasn't charred. So you're really getting white whiskey, right?

Well, it depends on how long it stayed in that wagon going down the road. You know, it'd be neat to see that, you know, if you'd seen the wagon rows and stuff, they're bumpy and stuff. So that movement inside that barrel would have been cause some maturation, I would imagine a little bit, a little bit. Yeah. Or it just goes straight from the distillery in the wagon to the bar tavern. at the time, that's what they had been called, right? Roadhouse Tavern. That was set up on a shelf that had tap right there and they just tap straight from the barrel.

Yeah.

I wish that's the way it was today. My Texas road trip, I got to tap a couple of barrels like that and there was some amazing whiskey. I'm kind of sad you didn't get to go along with me. That was a long road trip, 3,000 miles. We might have killed each other inside that pickup. Yeah. In 1987, Jim Beam acquired this brand right here. I love that they have kept it around.

It became part of their old line, old overhauled, old granddad.

A lot of people don't know that this right here, I believe it's produced over in Frankfort, Kentucky because they have a distillery there. A lot of people don't realize that. They have some distilleries all over the place.

Well, you know, Old Over Holt's been a respected rye whiskey for a long time. It's in the wells of a lot of ours because the whiskey itself by the bottle is relatively inexpensive, right? Not this one, but the standard Old Over Holt 100 proof. The bottled bonds at about 20, 25, depending on where you shop at.

Now, this right here is $35. It's come up over the past year with inflation with everything. I think when it was released, it was at thirty dollars, but still for thirty five dollars for one hundred and fourteen proof. Right. It's screw top. It is a screw top. But does it really matter what the bottle looks like when it when it boils down to it? Right. Does does the beautiful Blanton's bottle make it a better whiskey? some of those bottles out there, it's marketing. Yeah. Curb appeal. Curb appeal. Yeah. But for $35, you know, we're getting 114 proof. Well, I'm sure Jim, our listeners, like you two need to shut up and drink this whiskey.

Let us know if it's any good or not, because it's everywhere. They can get it anywhere. So anybody can go out and get this.

Yeah. The things we, like we said, four years old, undisclosed mash bill. We do know where it's made at. So let's get to it. Cheers. Cheers.

Yeah, so that's definitely kind of a baking spice nose on it.

That would be that traditional Kentucky rye.

Yeah.

Not that 95-5 or 100%.

I mean, the spice is there. A little bit of the mint, but kind of a minty, caramely, nutmeg-y kind of mixture. I'm getting that Christmas fruitcake. Yeah, fruitcake.

That nobody wants to eat. I eat fruitcake. I like them. Maybe it's just fat guys that like to eat fruitcake.

I think it's got a great nose on it. It's sweet. It's caramely. It does have that minty waft to it. There's no mistaking it's a rye, but you can definitely tell there's going to be a little sweetness when you sip on this. Cheers. Let's do it. Cheers.

That is not a hundred and fourteen proof. Super buttery, right? Yeah. A sweetness over the tongue.

Just a little bit of spice on it and a little bit of a little bit of bitterness or drying on drying on that like a red wine maybe. But I mean, I'm really surprised at how how it presents itself as kind of a lower proof. Right. This could get you in trouble real fast. Now there's that old Kentucky hug.

Second sip showing up. So I would believe, because it is Jim Beam, that this is a sour mash, not a sweet mash.

Like you said, caramely, buttery, a little bit of nuttiness there. A little bit of nuttiness, no doubt about it. And it is drying. So it is kind of a, what I'm thinking about is like it's a, it's like a walnut shell. Yeah, I can get that.

Not like the walnut or the peanut, but more of the walnut shell. Even of some pecans that are not super oily. You ever had a larger pecan that's like paper shell pecans? Mainly out of Georgia, they have a little bit of that bitterness drying effect to them. Where you get a Texas pecan, the hard shell pecan, they're little bitty fat nuts. They're super oily. A little bit of difference. This is, this is definitely creamy bourbon that, that as it rolls over your palate though, it starts to dry out.

You can definitely tell this is not a chill filter.

Yeah.

There's that mintiness showing up a little bit. Yeah, it's got a little bit of oak and leather. Not deep, not dark, not like extra aged, but kind of just, just right. Just the right amount of kind of oak influence.

I like the sweetness on this. And actually I said fruitcake for the nose. I get a little bit of fruitcake there. I could drink this with fruitcake. Easy. Yeah. Like you said, 114 proof. I would think somewhere around a hundred uh proof on this right here would be right but yeah yeah this might go with a spicy meal might go with chili you know for that price range that's not a bad price range to put in a cocktail

Right, now I think as far as a bar is concerned, they're probably going to stick this in a well at $35, but it might be up on the shelf there. If you want a little extra punch to that old-fashioned, I think it's a good choice.

Yeah, I think this is perfect for that.

Yeah, because it's not super sweet. It's a little drying on the back end. It's got that little bit of punch to it. It's got the alcohol. I think add in that little bit of sugar and the bitters in your mixture, and I think you're going to have a great old-fashioned. I'm looking forward to trying that.

Well, I brought back a summer drink for us, and everybody will hear it this Wednesday with our episode. For me, I was at Garrison Brothers, and I paired some barbecue with a cowboy tea, and they call it the John Daly. So what you do is you take Half cup of lemonade, half cup of sweet tea, pour in two shots of their whiskey into it. It's my new summer drink. I must swear by it. I'm going to make it by the gallons, Jim. It's so refreshing. I was like, this might be our new campfire drink. That's how good it was. But this right here would hold up good to that with a sweet tea and that lemonade. Yeah. Perfect. Not overly sweet. You know, I think if you mix a cocktail with like a maker's mark that has that carmely sweetness is over sweet sometimes. It kind of kills that cocktail a little bit.

Well, like I was saying before, I think the effect of the barrel on this is just about right. You can actually go overboard with it or you can not get enough. And I think at least for this age, this is just about right. We love barrels, don't we?

Yeah. What am I doing right now though? You're feeling better. That's how good it was for me. Um, I, this is a bio all day long. It's got that medium finish to it. Uh, if it didn't have that, a drying effect, I would say that long, a long finish on it. Yeah.

But I think that drying effect on me kind of, yeah, I think the drying effect is kind of, uh, puts me off just a little bit, but you know what? You get that with a bold red wine, a dry red wine too, and you don't think twice about it. So maybe it's just putting your mind in the right perspective for what you're drinking, and does it fit?

I tell you this, wine drinkers out there that are thinking about getting into whiskey, and they like that drawing effect, this will be right up your alley, pick up a bottle of this, it's not killing your pocket. Probably, about the same price as a good red wine, right?

Yeah, yeah, we bought a few bottles, Paradise Liquors. We bought a few of his bold reds up there. We were spending 20 to 25 a bottle. So this is a little bit more, but. But you're going to get a lot more pot. Normally not a 30 or 40 dollar bottle guy, but it's got to be really special.

Yeah.

For wine, right?

Yeah, right. Wine. Yeah, that's that is a special meal right there.

Because you're going to drink a bottle in about an hour with somebody. Yeah, maybe maybe that's true. Not happening with the whiskey normally.

No, it takes a while to drink this right here, but a great bottle everybody. Make sure you go out and check it out. If you see it on the shelf, I'm telling you, you're not wasting your money. That's just Big Chief's opinion. You can take it or leave it. But usually if we bring something on the show, It's probably worth grabbing.

Yeah, I think it's a respectable port at 114 proof. This is a rye that is not going to knock your socks off, but it's good and solid. It's a high proof rye. It's got a great pedigree. It's got a great story behind it. It's gonna go well in just about any cocktail. If somebody's looking for something with a little more proof to it, this is the one. And it's not overly clovey, it's not overly dill, it's not overly super rye. This is a little bit more of just a kind of a baseline Kentucky rye.

I think for the price, the proof point, everything you need across the board is good. So make sure you check it out. Jim, where can they find us on social media?

Well, you can find us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, all places at The Bourbon Road. You can also find us on our website, thebourbonroad.com. We've got Mike's article's on there. We've got our episodes. You can listen to them there. If you don't have a podcast player of choice, don't worry about it. If you don't understand podcasts, don't worry about it. Just go to our website and hit play. It's pretty easy. We also have our swag on there. We sell t-shirts and hats and glasses and decanters and pocket flasks and all kinds of whiskey good stuff. And those things, when you buy them from us, you help Mike and I get down the road to do another day.

Yeah, I did another day. I did 3000 miles. Make sure you give those episodes a listen. Make sure that you're checking out our TikTok. That's like our newest account. Go on there and give us a follow. We'd appreciate that a lot. But what we really need you to do, this is Jim's favorite part. I know it is. Go up to the top of your app that you're listening to us on Hit that check sign that plus sign that subscribe sign. That'll make sure that you know We got those two episodes coming out every week and you know, I want you to scroll on down I want you to hit that five star review and leave us some comments. Those are important to us You know what'll happen if you don't, you know, I'm gonna have my friend a big bad booty daddy of bourbon he's gonna Dig up old overhaul out of his grave bring this bottle to your house You guys are gonna drink it all night long by the end of the night Either you're gonna be scared out of your wits or you're gonna give us that five-star review. So make sure you do that We really appreciate it those comments those reviews help us up open up doors to distilleries gets great whiskey in our hand like this old overhaul 114 proof It gets people talking to us about whiskey Like I said, we really love to see those

And if you're new to the Bourbon Road, you probably don't know that we do two shows every single week. We do a short episode like today's, usually 15 or 20 minutes where we review a single bottle, a single expression from a distillery. We give you our take on it, tell you whether or not we think you ought to add it to your bar. Then every Wednesday, we'll dive deep. We'll grab a few bottles, we'll grab a friend, we'll grab somebody important in the whiskey industry and we'll sit down and we'll do an interview and drink a few whiskeys and it's more of a long show. We'll get you 30 minutes driving to work and get you 30 minutes driving home a full hour. That happens every week, once in a while, every now and then. We'll kick off that bonus episode.

Bonus episode. Jim, I want to bring up our giveaways. We have managed to do a giveaway for several weeks now. And for the next four weeks, I know we have giveaways. But what I tell everybody is if you want to give away, we're going to limit that. You only get one giveaway every three months. That allows everybody else to get to play for the giveaway.

There's some people quick on the trigger.

They are quick on the trigger. I even moved them to noon time and these people still quick on that trigger faster than I can say it and stuff. You gotta be 21. Um, you know, that's the rules and you gotta live in the East side of the United States. We'd love to do those giveaways in other states or other countries.

If you're from outside the US and you win the giveaway, we'll hold the bottle for you.

Yeah, if you come travel here, do your pilgrimage. I just wanted to put that out there for our listeners. That's important to us to do those giveaways. I think we're the only podcast right now doing that with the distilleries. The distilleries have been great. Our good friends down at Green River did a great giveaway for us. Blacklands just did a giveaway. We're really rolling through those. And even on our episodes, we might be able to find a way to do a giveaway ourselves. Everybody's got to remember, though, it's Jim and I that are putting up that whiskey. But we have a little bit on our shelves to give away. That's true.

And keep this in mind, folks. When you come to a Bourbon Road event, if you come to a bourbon festival or you come to some other event where we're at and we've got a tent, we've got a table, there's going to be a Bourbon Road bar there. And there's going to be lots of whiskey on it. And if you're a roadie, if you're part of our Facebook group, you're a member of our roadies, free access, unlimited drinks at the roadie bar.

Yeah. Oh, October 1st is that's one of the big festivals we're going to be at is bourbon on the banks this year. We'll be there. We'll be there with a brand. But we'll also have a plethora of bottles, as Jim said. If you want to partake in that, join the Bourbon Roadies. It's easy, right?

It's so easy. I mean, it's so easy. I mean, search us out on Facebook, the Bourbon Road. From there, you'll see our link to the Bourbon Roadies, our private Facebook group. But even then, if you don't go to our Facebook page, just type in Bourbon Roadies in Facebook and up will come our private page. You can join it there.

Some great people in there. You got to be 21. You got to like bourbon. If you're following us, you love bourbon. But we also ask that you play nice. If you want to drink from the bottom of the shelf, midway on the shelf where this old overholt is, or to the very top of the shelf. I saw some people drinking some pappies. Jim, I still don't have a bottle. Yeah, me neither. But if that's what you drink, we want you to come in there. But we just don't tolerate any rude. Some other guy said he was going to get beat up in there the other day for posting something. I said, no, you will not. Absolutely not. We'll handle that like gentlemen. Great place to be.

Yeah, absolutely. So we want to hear from you. We want to know what you think about the show. Mike mentioned earlier how you can give us a review or give us some feedback. I want to let you know that on our website, there's also a Contact Us page. You can go on there. If you've got some ideas or complaints or things you'd like to see, go on there and post it. If you want to just email us, you can always email us. I'm Jim at TheBurbanRoad.com. He's Mike at TheBurbanRoad.com. Probably the easiest way, like we always say, is to hit up our DM on Instagram. I'm JayShannon63. I'm Big Bourbon Chief. And we'll see you down the bourbon road.