Distillery friend Scott W. stopped by this morning. He's had a bottle of old whiskey collecting dust and decided who better to share it with than his good friends at Great Lakes? Scott got the bottle from his grandfather. The bottle itself is a neat artifact considering this was prohibition era "Medicinal" whiskey, but the fact that there was still whiskey in it really had us intrigued.
The bottle of J.A. Dougherty's Sons Pure Pennsylvania Rye Whiskey was still in it's box. The whiskey was produced by A. Overholt & Co which was located in western PA. The bottle states that the whiskey was produced prior to January 17th 1920 and says it was aged 13 summers which means at a minimum it is about 90 years old.
Unfortunately the bottle had previously been opened and about an ounce was missing, but this did nothing to dampen our enthusiasm as Doug dug out the cork which crumbled on extraction. I was standing back 5 feet taking photos as Doug began to pour. From that distance I immediately got a whiff of vanilla. The color was a deep reddish brown- from it's "thirteen summers" of age.
Nothing about this Whiskey disappointed. The nose was powerful and while some alcohol likely was lost over the years (but still enough to give a nice buzz), the flavors were wonderful. The typical rye spiciness was there as expected but were well complimented by sweet undertones, caramel, vanilla and leather.
If you've got some old spirits around, feel free to share them with your friends at Great lakes!
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