A Surprise from Beam
Please don’t be that person that points out that it says 80 proof on the label…. it’s an obvi placeholder.
This whiskey collector, snob, aficionado, enthusiast, insaniac/hoarder is going through a difficult patch. I have become increasingly non-plussed, burned out, skeptical, bored, and too cool to be impressed by mostly anything anymore. I have tried all the finishes, had so much micro, and have grown immune to the latest MGP sourced hype brands. I have lamented the increase in prices and increased scarcity on old standards, and I scratch my head frequently when confronted with people paying north of $100 for basic Buffalo Trace things that used to cost $25. I often wonder if there will ever again be anything that whets my appetite and brings the excitement that I used to have before I became overwhelmed by it all.
We are all relentlessly flooded with marketing information in our inbox, and social media feeds, which keeps us on a continual hype-train experience that we didn’t buy a ticket to, and cannot get off of. All of us are continually alerted to something new coming out that will be a “must buy” ages before it releases so that when it does we are all frothing at the mouth like rabid raccoons digging out the last bits of a rancid quarter-pounder from the bin behind the Quickie Mart.
Like many of you readers, I peruse the TTB insider Comingwhiskey on IG looking for what’s up next and making my buy list for the year. Every year my buy list gets smaller, with less things that truly excite me. I have become more and more jaded, until….a surpise from Beam brings back that specific joy.
Beam Distilling is releasing another extension of the Old Overholt lineup. Here’s the marketing gobbledygook-
“Old Overholt 10 Year Old Cask Strength Straight Rye. A single year, a single place, in every single drop. In 2012 we laid down rye in our unique Escalator Warehouse V. A decade later we selected the best to be blended and bottled, cask strength and unfiltered. This Kentucky style rye is the result – spice, depth and unmistakable Overholt character.”
Just take my money please.
It’s wonderful that a distillery can still shock and awe. Beam has done a terrific job over the last several years to not just hype new things, but deliver some really exceptional releases to us whiskey fans. Overholt went to 86 proof non-chill filtering, added the 114 proof, refreshed the bonded to bottled-in-bond, dropped an under appreciated 11yr exclusive to PA, released Old Tub, then made it permanent, added a blue and red label to Knob Creek, then floored us all with the 18yr, plussed Baker’s with a move to single barrels, added an age statement to the Knob Rye (7yrs OMG!), and now they deliver on this 10yr cask strength Overholt. This is just insane!
We’ve all known about the upcoming Monongahela Overholt release for quite some time, and I’ve been patiently waiting, but I didn’t see this one coming at all, no one did, and that’s how you delight your fans! SURPRISE!!! Can you imagine? Laying this down ten years ago, (that was 2013 for you thickheaded folks), and waiting for just the right moment to spring this? People are all nuts for Jack and their cask rye’s right now, Beam said heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy wait just a moment please…..
I cannot get enough of these Beam Flexes.
Things like this remind me how much I still love this hobby. I try very hard to not succumb to the relentless drum beat of hype, and just enjoy what is out there and focus on what I truly love, while still leaving room for some discovery. Thank you Beam for keeping my fire stoked.
I have some extra detail here that the TTB release doesn’t cover. This will be an ANNUAL release. It will be 10-year age stated. It will be at Cask Strength (my prediction is around 120 proof.). It will be LIMITED and not available in all 50 states. It will not be PA or OH only. No official pricing yet, but my prediction will be around $125.
I surely hope that you the reader have something that keeps you as invested and happy as I am about this new Overholt expansion. Do you? Let me know in the comments.
- Mickey Pinstripe