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Yesterday I found a couple of dusty bottles of Old Overholt in a little shop here in California. They were 86 proof. I figured they were older bottles and didn't look them over too carefully. Anyway, a quick internet search found several places selling OO at 86 proof leading me to wonder if they are becoming more readily available at this higher proof. All the other bottles I had seen recently were 80 proof and I thought this was the only way the product was being offered. Anyone else have any info on this?

Thanks.

-Mike

This would be a coup, if you discovered current bottles that are 86 proof, since in recent years OO has been 80 only.

What does the label say in terms of the provenance? The current 80 says, "Bottled at Frankfort - Clermont, KY By A. Overholt & Co.".

In the bottom left corner it says, "Distilled in Kentucky", in the bottom right corner, "4 years old."

If yours reads identical to this except it states 86 proof I wonder if Beam is increasing the proof (welcome as that would be). Otherwise the stock is likely from 20 years ago or so (nothing wrong with that and it may be better than current OO in taste). An indication of a bottle from National Distillers would be a statement that it is bottled in Cincinatti, Ohio. It is possible when Beam acquired the label in 1987 that it sold it in 86 proof, old National Distillers stock or even new Beam production, but if so that practice stopped a long time ago.

Gary

There's no mention of Clermont on the label of the bottles I saw so it must be old stock.

Thanks for the information. I think I'll pick them up since they're priced at or below the current price for the 80 proof.

As for the ones I've seen on the web, I don't know. Maybe there are some old bottles out there.

-Mike

They are probably National Distillers whiskey bottled in Ohio and made ... who knows? It may have been made in Pennsylvania by the old Michters. If you buy this (and if I were you I'd buy all I can), test it against a Clermont 80 and give your opinion here, that would be most interesting.

Gary

Okay, Gary, I'll do that. I already found a 500 ml bottle from the late 70's that is PA rye at 86 proof. These other bottles are 86 but distilled in Kentucky.

-Mike

Well that's interesting. If distilled in Kentucky it must have been made by Beam I would think. It sounds like you have all three iterations of the last 30 years: the one made in Pennsylvania in the 70's (probably Michter's production); an early one made by Beam before it phased out the 86 proof; and the current 80 proof. That would make for a great vertical tasting!

Gary

I just won this bottle on EBAY. It was bottled in 1948