Whiskey Icon Abraham Overholt Is Now in Nutcracker Form

In the pantheon of whiskies named soon after people—Johnnie Walker, Elijah Craig, Jack Daniel’s—there’s just one which is endured extended than any, and carries a verifiably reliable backstory to boot. Outdated Overholt, America’s most storied and longest-managing rye, bears the title and image of Abraham Overholt, an irascible Pennsylvanian who started a whiskey empire which is lasted in excess of two centuries.

Quite a few individuals regarded as Abe a hard nut to crack for the duration of his lifetime, and now the tables have turned: He’s been immortalized in nutcracker variety.

This getaway time, Old Overholt has partnered with German nutcracker artisans Steinbach to develop a exclusive figurine of its founding patriarch. The picket Abe, with his outsized eyebrows and trademark scowl, is flanked by a sack of rye grain and a barrel. He athletics a gold pocket watch—no question keeping keep track of of how quickly his staff are working—and carries a bottle of common Outdated Overholt. The hardness of Abe’s demeanor is matched only by the toughness of his jaws, which can crack a walnut shell with simplicity.

This presentation of the Overholt scion is not just for exciting: It’s rooted in the lifetime of the gentleman and historical past of the manufacturer. Abraham commenced making whiskey at his family’s Western Pennsylvania farm distillery in the initially 10 years of the 19th century. When referred to as an “unruly Mennonite,” he had a status for frugality—which is stating something, looking at the hardscrabble requires of daily life on the frontier at that time.

Abraham experienced the identity features for success, even so: In his life span, he took the Overholt rye distillery from getting minor far more than a farm procedure to 1 of the country’s major whiskey producers. At the time of his dying in 1870, A. Overholt & Co. had two distilleries in Western Pennsylvania creating nicely-regarded Monongahela rye. Less than 20 a long time afterwards, that whiskey experienced completely adopted Aged Overholt as its manufacturer and was getting bottled with Abraham’s scowling deal with on the label. The picture was primarily based on a real-existence portrait of Abraham and continue to graces each bottle of Previous Overholt now.

Even though Prohibition dealt a lethal blow to many whiskey makers, Previous Overholt survived. You may well remember it as a plot place in the 3rd season of “Boardwalk Empire,” when then-distillery operator Andrew Mellon conspires with Nucky Thompson to retain the facility up and working illegally. That element is all fiction, but Mellon—real-lifestyle Secretary of the Treasury—did grant himself a license to promote medicinal whiskey from Old Overholt’s shares, which retained the manufacturer alive until finally Repeal.

These days Previous Overholt is designed in Kentucky, not Pennsylvania, however its authentic locale nonetheless stands. Recently that site—now a museum and residing historical past encounter identified as West Overton—began building whiskey the moment yet again on a micro-scale, offering visitors a opportunity to see what it was like two generations in the past, when Abraham himself labored the stills.

The Outdated Overholt brand has been active way too, releasing new offerings like Bottled-in-Bond and 114 Proof, an amped up variation of the vintage rye that will you should lovers of large-evidence whiskey. A hugely limited Previous Overholt 11-yr-aged came out past year—the oldest rye the manufacturer has ever released.

Any of these bottles would make a fantastic present in tandem with this minimal-version nutcracker. The 1st operate of rigid-legged minimal Abes, priced at $399, sold out inside of an hour of release, but a next, extra constrained batch, which swaps Aged Overholt 114 for a small bottle of common rye is set to fall on December 16 at steinbach-store.com if you’re seeking to score. The whiskey drinker who presently has a cabinet full of rocks eyeglasses and additional decanters than they could possibly fill is confident to go nuts more than this sort of a exceptional piece of whiskey gear.

And even if they never get one of these iron-jawed Abes, a fantastic bottle of Previous Overholt should really be just as welcome.

For accessibility to unique equipment videos, celebrity interviews, and much more, subscribe on YouTube!