Oh Old Crow, you’re a dirty bird that’s been run through the ringer by Jim Beam. I remember watching my Dad’s friends chase you with cans of Budweiser when I was a kid running around Georgia barefoot; weary of pull-top landmines.
This review comes courtesy of a half gallon plastic jug I bought at BevMo to taste side-by-side with a tax stamped version of the brand (review tomorrow). The back side of the bottle has a grip formed in the plastic for ease of use, if that tells you anything about what we’re dealing with, and you know what? I’m glad that the half gallons are made of plastic. That way if they fall, they don’t break, because this ain’t sipping bourbon so you know it ain’t exactly a formal affair when this jug gets pulled out.
Old Crow Kentucky Straight Bourbon Review – circa 2013
Distiller: Jim Beam
Aged: At least 3 years
ABV: 40%
Price: $21 (1/2 gallon)
EYE
Bourbon Brown
NOSE
Thin and high in alcohol. Smells a bit like cheap perfume with celery and oranges. After about a minute it has a sweet stale beer quality. Smells like the bad ideas of my youth.
PALATE
Oak flavored pepper vodka. At first there’s just not much going on here, but wait! After a few minutes some celery and green wood followed by apples and sugar show up. Though it’s super thin here too.
FINISH
More vegetables with some powdered sugar sprinkled on top.
OVERALL
Modern Old Crow is a great example of how a once great brand is now used to market and move pallets of cheap bourbon. It really isn’t a good representation of what bourbon can be, but I suppose it serves a purpose. Don’t get me wrong, I’m always grateful for the opportunity to try any bourbon, but I can’t hide my disappointment for how it tastes. To me this is now the brand a college kid would use to make some type of hunch punch or what an ancient alcoholic might use as a means to an end. Either scenario illustrates the reason I’m glad it comes in a plastic jug because gravity is relentless!
SCORE: 70
