My First Time With Old Crow Chessmen

Last year I enjoyed one of the most memorable Bourbon tasting experiences of my life. It happened completely by accident, in a situation that probably shouldn’t have happened, given to me by someone I didn’t know. Now, it’s been a few years since I’ve left college, but I was never much for the “stranger gives you a drink”.  

I was invited to join a new Bourbon group and the first event I was able to attend was Labor Day weekend at a member’s house in New Jersey with a nice big backyard. I grab a Glencairn, take a seat, and the guy across from me says “hey – hold out your glass, I want you to try this” …I brushed off the red flashing lights and said to myself “I’m betting other people here have tried this and they’re still standing, so it’ll be fine”. He pours a dram into my glass, saying only that this is indeed a whiskey and to guess what it is.

 At that point, I had tried around 350-400 different spirits (in a lifetime, not that day), but I couldn’t claim any great nose or palate for identification. This was just…different. It smelled different from any whiskey I’d had yet was definitively bourbon. I swirled it around – it was nearly opaque and looked syrupy rich. A little air suddenly opened the nose up and I viscerally felt happier. I smelled for what must’ve been five minutes just trying to get all the notes and constantly discovering new or stronger ones. I had to taste this.  

The bourbon exploded on my palate. It wasn’t a hot explosion like a Stagg or a WLW, it was pure bourbon, corn, fruit, vanilla, caramel, toffee, oak, every best part from every distillery. I sat back, half the liquid still untouched, completely dumbfounded. I threw out a guess, but to be honest I don’t remember exactly what I said. He and the guys looking on had that “I’m-so-happy-I-know-something-you-don’t” smirk. He sat back, reached behind him, and pulled out this: 

HE WAS FREE-POURING OLD CROW CHESSMEN DECANTERS!!

This stuff is legendary. People new to bourbon don’t take long to hear about it. Fred Minnick considers it one of, if not the, greatest bourbon of all time. Around 10 years old, sold in full sets with a giant blanket-type mat, this was beyond any expectation I had.

So – here I am, at my first meetup with my new group, trying a legendary dusty bourbon, and I had two choices: I could pull back and say, “yeah this was pretty great, but I’ve had better” or be honest and say, “this is in the top 2-3 bourbons – hell the top 2-3 whiskies worldwide I’ve ever had”. I went with choice two.  

I’ll never forget that first experience being with my new group of friends, sitting around a table (socially distanced) while the sun sets, trying an insanely rare bourbon that I knew I had to have in my collection if I ever got a chance.

That was certainly a highlight for me from 2020: the 1960s/70s Old Crow Chessmen Decanter series. 10 years old, 43% ABV, and a legend in ceramic. Cheers to 2021 – I can’t wait to see what I try this year!