Volume 14 Number 1 © 2011 Charles Kendrick Cowdery, All Rights Reserved August 2011 Evan Williams Single Barrel The Old Overholt Story; Straight Rye’s Vintage Is Critical & Popular Hit. Grand Old Man. n the autumn of 2006, eldom mentioned in all of Heaven Hill’s Evan Little sips of news, the talk about the rye Williams Single Barrel history and other whiskey revival is the Vintage series got a bit information about granddaddy of them all: more interesting. That’s when they Old Overholt. America's unique spirit unveiled the 1997 vintage. The 1997 The old man depicted on the very was the first one not made at Heaven and the people retro Old Overholt label is Abraham Hill’s Bardstown distillery (DSP-31). who make it, Overholt, a real person, who made rye Thus began an odyssey for Heaven for people whiskey in western Pennsylvania from Hill of several years in the wilderness, who enjoy it. about 1810 until his death in 1870. The making whiskey in other people’s brand was created after his death, by the plants, then acquiring and settling into a company he founded, and the whiskey new home at Bernheim in Louisville. It was made at the distillery he built until is a journey we can taste in the 1997 the industry began to contract in the and subsequent vintages, many of 1970s and production was moved to which are still on retail shelves. Kentucky. Evan Williams Single Barrel Always Independent ‘Overholt’ is an Americanization of Vintage is both a status project and a & Idiosyncratic. the German name Oberholtzer. The popular hit. Each new vintage produces (No distillery affiliation.) Oberholtzers were members of the oft- news that reflects on the distillery’s persecuted Mennonite faith who came capabilities, self-confidence, and to William Penn’s New World colony recognition of the enthusiast anticipated the bourbon renaissance and because it promised religious freedom. community; the purposes of a status probably helped to bring it about. No They settled originally in Buck’s project. It also generates enough sales other producer has done anything quite County, in the eastern part of the state. volume at a premium price to be like it. Abraham Overholt was born in commercially successful, which is the The concept was innovative and 1784, the tenth of twelve children. type of status project Heaven Hill sophisticated, especially for its time. While the older children helped their prefers. Each year they bottle, in single barrel father in the fields, the younger children Soon the 2002 vintage will be format, whiskey distilled nine years performed other household tasks. Such unveiled. Typically, a new vintage is a large family required a lot of clothing introduced at a big October to-do in (Continued on page 2) and other textiles, and Abraham spent Kentucky, and begins to appear in most of his time at the family’s loom, stores in January. weaving wool and linen into cloth. He Two-thousand-and-two was In This Issue: and his brother, Christian, also tended Heaven Hill’s fourth year in the the family’s still. Bernheim distillery. They had made In 1800, Abraham’s father decided some modifications and pretty much Sixteen Years With Evan they were all moving to western settled in by then, although the Williams, 201 With Abe Pennsylvania, to a farm about 40 miles recently-completed distillery expansion southeast of Pittsburgh. Abraham was was still in the future. Overholt, And A Few only 16 and Christian was 14, but some The series began 16 years ago, a of their older siblings were married remarkable feat in its own right. It More With Some Micros. (Continued on page 3) Page 2 © 2011 Charles Kendrick Cowdery, All Rights Reserved The Bourbon Country Reader EW Single Barrel ... their best effort during a given period, a purposes of differentiation. benchmark. Heaven Hill makes many The only other point of interest different products for many different about abv is that barrels stored in the (Continued from page 1) tastes, but they began in 1934 as a hottest warehouse locations tend to before. Although by law age statements bourbon maker and have always been a have the most evaporation, so there is just reflect a minimum age, Heaven bourbon maker most of all. Because the less whiskey in each barrel when it is Hill was committed to dump dates that age was fixed at nine years it would not dumped. They also have the highest reflected at least nine years but less be their oldest bourbon, but it would be abv levels. Each year a representative than ten in wood, and they put the the bourbon that said, “this is who we barrel is symbolically opened at the barrel’s exact fill and dump dates on are, this is what we’re all about.” unveiling event and may be tasted at the label, along with an identifying Buffalo Trace likes to say it is on a barrel strength, which on one occasion barrel number. quest for the perfect bourbon. Heaven was 80% abv. The idea was that there would be Hill takes a different approach. They Evan Williams Single Barrel slight differences from barrel to barrel say, “this is the perfect bourbon as Vintage is not a limited edition in the within a vintage as well as between nearly as the real world allows us to usual sense. They dump and bottle vintages, but there would always be a make it.” throughout the year based on how family resemblance. Drinkers who like to start with the many orders they receive. They can run Charged with creating the first best will always know where to start out theoretically but not practically, release and each one since is Master when they get to Heaven Hill. and scarcity is not the point as it is with Distiller Parker Beam, assisted by his Barrels of whiskey that are a typical limited edition. On the son, Craig Beam. Parker resolved to changeover date, they simply stop pick what in his opinion were the best bottling one vintage and start on the barrels of nine-year-old bourbon in “Evan Williams Single Barrel next one. They have flexibility as to their warehouses. He didn’t try to Vintage is not a limited edition when changeover occurs. match any profile except for the one he in the usual sense. They dump Heaven Hill launched a more has in his head of the ideal bourbon. and bottle throughout the year typical annual release, limited edition People like different things and series in 2007, called the Parker’s there are bourbons made for all tastes, based on how many orders Heritage Collection. Each year is but this is what Parker likes (Craig is they receive.” something different and only about presumably okay with it too) and, 4,000 bottles are produced. The 2011, furthermore, it tastes the way they which will be released soon, is a ten- believe bourbon should taste, the way it otherwise the same vary after aging year-old rye-recipe bourbon finished in shows best. because of their warehouse location. cognac casks. Distillers and their warehouse managers Give or take a year, most In the Evan Williams Single Barrel know the aging characteristics of experienced distillers will tell you Vintage series, any bottle with a various warehouses in their system and bourbon whiskey peaks at about nine barreled-on date after November of years. That’s subjective and you, as a of different locations within each 1996 was distilled somewhere other consumer, are entitled to prefer warehouse. When they want a whiskey than DSP-31. Initially, Heaven Hill something else. with certain characteristics, they know contracted with Jim Beam, later with exactly where to look. This is different, this is a leading Brown-Forman, for distilling services. practitioners in the field proposing a Parker knew from long experience All of the contracted spirit was barrel- at Heaven Hill (he started there in standard for the type. Considering the entered and aged by Heaven Hill at 1960) that what he liked best was source, you at least have to think about their own facilities. Even after they it. The Beams, like most distillers, have whiskey aged in the highest and hottest took over at Bernheim they continued more than just a professional interest in parts of the warehouses. The conditions to buy new make from Brown-Forman the subject. They are bourbon drinkers at those locations maximize wood because Bernheim didn’t have enough too. extraction. Whiskey aged there has capacity, hence the expansion strong flavors so the whiskey still tastes announced in 2007 and begun shortly As the series evolved it came to robust even after dilution to 43.3% abv. thereafter. represent what Heaven Hill felt was the best of their bourbon output, a calling Alcohol content was another Here are tasting notes for the five variable fixed at the beginning of the card of sorts, a sample of liquid from post-DSP-31 vintages released so far. their vast inventory that possessed all series. It is axiomatic that premium 1997 – Made at Jim Beam, it is of the qualities they felt a first-rate bourbons must be above the baseline more white-doggy than you would bourbon should display. It represented 40% abv, but otherwise 43.3% abv is (Continued on page 3) arbitrary, a non-standard abv for August 2011 © 2011 Charles Kendrick Cowdery, All Rights Reserved Page 3 Distilling Company was making he and EW Single Barrel ... Old Overholt Rye ... his family rich. (Continued from page 2) (Continued from page 1) One of Abraham’s grandsons, by his daughter Elizabeth, was Henry Clay expect from a nine-year-old whiskey.