Old Charter is the bourbon on which I got my start when I was much younger than I am now. Principally, the eight year old version was ubiquitous where I grew up and the ten year old was a real treat when you wanted to splurge a little. I was told by my old boss Greg Walker that Rapides Parish consumed more Old Charter than any other county in the United States, and this was because it was the house bourbon at the VFW club after World War II. I have nothing real to back that up other than to say that when I went to college in Tennessee, Evan Williams, Henry McKenna, Weller, and Jim Beam were far more common among bourbon drinkers, where as in Rapides Parish, Old Charter was the go to bourbon.

After Sazerac acquired the Ancient Age distillery and renamed it Buffalo Trace and came out with Buffalo Trace bourbon as their flagship, Old Charter became like an unwanted step child, lost its eight year old age statement, and virtually disappeared from store shelves. But now, Buffalo Trace is being back the Old Charter brand name with a limited release bourbons under the brand Old Charter Oak. These releases are aged in some unique barrels rather than regular American Oak barrels from the Ozarks in Missouri. I was able to pick up a bottle of the French Oak version for $72. However, I have seen this bourbon on sale on the internet marked up into the hundreds of dollars.

While the bottle does not have an age statement, the Buffalo Trace website reveals that the Old Charter Oak French Oak is aged twelve years. It is bottled at a relatively low 92 proof, but which may be ok if the bourbon has a lot of oak flavor. The bottle does have a cool wooden sigil depicting an oak tree and a man rolling a barrel of bourbon.

Despite being proofed down so much, this bourbon is a very deep amber with some reddish hues. Thin film with only a few droplets on the swirl, indicating that this bourbon started out at 125 and was proofed down significantly before bottling; this bourbon would have been really something straight out of the barrel. The nose is rather floral and fruity with some underlying oak, but relatively unremarkable. On the palate, this bourbon is very pleasant, with honey, vanilla, some caramelized brown sugar, cloves, and some really nice oak that is not too astringent but definitely making its presence known. The mouthfeel and the oak notes remind me a lot of Van Winkle 12, although this is Buffalo Trace Rye mashbill number 1 so the flavor profile is different. The finish is very pleasant and lingers a long time; I get mostly leather, oak, some vanilla and honey in the background, with the clove notes turning more to white pepper as the finish lingers.

This is an intriguing yet somehow old school bourbon, and I think aging it for 12 years gave this whiskey some great character. While I prefer higher proof bourbons (100 proof or more), at $72 this is unique enough and good enough that it will go on the living room bar where my best bottles are. I think folks that come over to my house try try great bourbon will be pleased with this great flavored but not overpowering bourbon. This is a great bourbon for your collection, but only at MSRP.

But I also have to admit that, having grown up in Rapides Parish, Louisiana, this bottle of Old Charter invokes a sense of nostalgia for those days in the 1980’s and 1990’s, which were more carefree times.