Episode
487. Overholt Overload: Tasting the 10, 11, and 12-Year Cask Strength Ryes
- Podcast
- The Bourbon Road
- Published
- Mar 18, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 2768
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Summary
Welcome back to The Bourbon Road! This week, hosts Jim Shannon and Todd Ritter are diving deep into the history and flavor of one of America's most iconic whiskey brands. We are keeping a long-overdue promise to our listeners by doing a side-by-side comparison of the highly sought-after extended age Old Overholt rye whiskeys. If you are a whiskey history buff, you know that Old Overholt holds the title for the longest continuously maintained whiskey brand in the United States, dating all the way back to 1810. Founded by Abraham Overholt in West Overton, Pennsylvania, it began as a classic Monongahela-style rye. We discuss its fascinating early history, back when frontiersmen transported the whiskey in casks on flatboats down the Monongahela and Ohio Rivers, stopping at the Falls of the Ohio before continuing to St. Louis and New Orleans. In those days, patrons would fill up ceramic jugs straight from the barrel! After being acquired by Jim Beam in 1987, the brand was moved to Kentucky, where corn was introduced to the mash bill to create a "Kentucky-ized" profile that many consider a "bourbon drinker's rye." Now, the brand is returning to its premium roots by offering higher-aged, cask-strength releases that harken back to the 1940s when you could get a 121-proof Old Overholt right from the cask. In this episode, Jim and Todd line up the 10-Year, 11-Year, and 12-Year Old Overholt Cask Strength Rye whiskeys to see how each year of extra aging and varying proofs impact the flavor profile. As always, they analyze the nose, palate, and finish of each expression before combining them for a final "Blendageddon" experiment. On the Tasting Mat: Old Overholt 10-Year Cask Strength Rye: Released in 2023, this 121-proof powerhouse was sourced entirely from Warehouse V—an "escalato…