Old Crow
Old Crow Reserve
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| Type | Bourbon whiskey |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Beam Suntory |
| Country of origin | Kentucky, United States |
| Introduced | 1835 |
| Alcohol by volume | 43.00% |
| Proof (US) | 86 |
| Related products | Jim Beam |
Old Crow is a low-priced brand of Kentucky-made straight bourbon whiskey, along with the slightly higher quality, but still inexpensive Old Crow Reserve brand. It is distilled by Beam Suntory, which also produces Jim Beam and several other brands of bourbon whiskey. The current Old Crow product uses the same mash and yeast bill as Jim Beam, but is aged for a shorter period of time and mixed to a more lenient taste profile before bottling.
The Old Crow brand has a venerable history as one of Kentucky's earliest bourbons. Old Crow is aged in barrels for a minimum of three years, and in the United States is 80 proof while Old Crow Reserve is aged for a minimum of four years and is 86 proof.
James C. Crow, a Scottish immigrant, started distilling what would come to be Old Crow in Frankfort, Kentucky, in the 1830s. Reportedly a very skilled distiller, he made whiskey for various employers, which was sold as "Crow" or, as it aged, "Old Crow" – and the brand acquired its reputation from the latter. He died in 1856, and while W.A. Gaines and Company kept the name and continued to distill the bourbon according to his recipe, the original distillation formula died with its creator. The last remaining stock of Old Crow (of which there seemed to have been quite a bit) acquired near-legendary status, and offering drinks of it reportedly secured a re-election for Joseph Clay Stiles Blackburn, senator for Kentucky. A dispute over ownership of the name "Old Crow" was decided in 1915 in favor of the Gaines company. Old Crow's logo, a crow perched atop grains of barley, is rumored to stem as a symbol bridging the North and South during the Civil War. A Pennsylvania brigade training at State College, Pennsylvania thought Old Crow was the only good thing to ever come out of the south. Fearing never being able to drink Old Crow again, the soldiers wrote Lincoln proclaiming "We must not let the fine gentleman Old Crow escape. Remember Mr. President, the crow with the sharpest talons holds on to barley forever." After the War the logo was changed from a picture of James Crow to the current crow holding onto barley.
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Wikipedia