Old Overholt gets it’s age statement back.

With so much news coming out of the whiskey world at such a fast pace, I hope to be forgiven for having missed this news out of Jim Beam Distillery: Old Overholt redcap has a new label and returns to the 4 year age statement! While the proof has not changed from the recently increased 86, it adds a stated year (although it was probably close to that before the label change), and remains non-chill filtered.

It’s roughly been a three-year-old rye for quite some time, but Old Overholt returns to it’s roots: a beautiful 4 year age statement.

This label change is a quiet update, and while most whiskey insaniacs will likely yawn at the news due to the proof, I think this is a rather profound move. Beam has spent the last couple of years (and probably more, because none of these moves are easy to make due to the large amount of planning involved) investing in their existing brands, plussing them, and revamping the lineups. Gone are the days when Old Overholt was just the black screw cap at 80 proof that you saw in the well at bars or the woefully overlooked bonded at the occasional liquor store. They moved to non-chill filtering, added the redcap, boosted the proof to 86, and then went hog wild replacing the bonded with the bottled in bond, added the 114 proof (the Sugar Ray Leonard of Overholt), and the limited release 11 year (people missed out, nyah nyah). They have several other things planned for the future of the line, but not even three years into the 86 proof redcap, they plussed the plus. Who does that? Beam of course.

Would it be greedy to hope for a six year old bottled in bond someday? Probably, but hope remains.

Beam is not resting on what they’ve done, they just continue to innovate. In 2019 some of us lovingly started referring to it being the “year of Beam,” which continued into 2020, and then 2021, and here we are again folks, another year of Beam. The improvements big and small continue to impress me and many other Beamnuts who cannot get enough of all the moves they’re making. With all of the flexing coming out of Clermont, I am left to ponder, what else can they do? What is next? Will we one day see a 6 year bottled-in-bond release? An 8? Please do an 8. Beam, please please please, do an 8! I love the reverence being paid to these storied brands, and I applaud Beam’s approach, I hope that it inspires some of the other majors to reinvest in their grand old labels.

- Mickey Pinstripe