Borghoff
Found Bottle
Written
by K. R. Overholt Critchfield, © April
22, 2003
Photographs by K. R. Overholt Critchfield
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Updated 3-21-2008 ~
Chuck Borghoff wrote to me last
September (September 2002), saying he had
been researching the Old Overholt
legacy, trying to find out about the full
bottle (corked in 1950) that he had at
home. The bottle had been given to him as
a gift in 1977, and he had been saving it
to open on his 50th birthday in the year
2000. Then Chuck got involved with the
Internet and began surfing for
information. Happily, he found my web
pages, and sent me a note, asking, since
I seemed to be "the family
voice," would I like to have
this bottle of Overholt Whiskey?
It still had the original tax label over
the cork, and he had taken very good care
of it.
Well, after reading this, I was
elated and a little worried. I
immediately wrote back, saying I was
happy to meet him, and the description of
his bottle of Overholt Whiskey
was very intriguing! It was a valuable
find to me, and something I would very
much like to own, but I could not afford
to buy it, adding, "Can you hear
my soul wail?" However, I
offered to build a web page highlighting
the bottle and post his e-mail address,
so that people could get back to him with
their offers. I was sure someone would be
interested in buying it, since I have
seen bottles of Old Overholt
offered on Ebay.
Imagine my delight, when Chuck
wrote back that he had written to me to
offer the bottle as a gift! There were no
strings attached! "I've had a
lot of fun with this, and since I no
longer wish to drink this relic, I would
rather give it to someone who has a
wailing desire for it."
And so, he mailed it to me! At
11:55 a.m., October 21, 2002, I answered
a knock on my front door, and found the
package on our porch. The UPS guys never
wait around for a signature these days --
they just disappear! But, perhaps it was
the condition of the package that spurred
the hasty retreat. One corner of the box
was crushed! I brought the box inside,
hoping the Old Overholt had
survived the journey. Luckily, it had,
and with only a small amount of leakage.
A dark orange-colored towel Chuck had
wrapped around the bottle and the liberal
packing materials inside the box had
saved it from serious damage.
I spent the next four hours
scanning images of the bottle into our
computer, and then doing the same with
the modern bottle of Old Overholt
I had kept in my kitchen cabinet for the
past 4 or 5 years (and still have). What
a difference there was in the two
bottles! The old bottle was just
beautiful, compared to the utilitarian
modern version. As soon as possible, I
wanted to create a nice web page to
compare the two. As usual, it has taken
me a lot longer to accomplish this task
than I expected!
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Old
Bottle vs. New Bottle
On the
left is the 1950 bottle of Old
Overholt Straight Rye Whiskey,
and on the right is the slightly
taller modern version.
The
first thing you notice about the
old bottle is the lovely curve of
the glass, with the signature in
raised letters above the label, A.
Overholt & Co., and the
legend, REG. U-S. PAT.OFF.
On the
back of the bottle, raised on the
glass, are the words, FEDERAL LAW
FORBIDS SALE OR REUSE OF THIS
BOTTLE; 4/5 QUART.
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Old
& New Immediately,
we see the difference in the
quality of the two labels. On the
left, the whiskey made in the
Fall of 1945 and bottled in the
Fall of 1950 is 100 proof (aged 5
full years). The modern bottle
declares itself to be 80 proof
and four years old.
On
the left, we see in bold red
letters, BOTTLED IN BOND at the
top of a very artistic label
printed by Gatto Engraving
Co., New York. The newer
version copies some of the
details of the original, but even
the picture of Abraham is a sad
imitation.
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New
Bottle Labels
The
modern bottle is slimmer and has
the added neck label, which has a
bar code on one side and
(thankfully) the government
warnings we find on all alcoholic
beverages nowadays.
GOVERNMENT
WARNING: (1) ACCORDING
TO THE SURGEON GENERAL, WOMEN
SHOULD NOT DRINK ALCOHOLIC
BEVERAGES DURING PREGNANCY
BECAUSE OF THE RISK OF BIRTH
DEFECTS. (2) CONSUPTION OF
ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES IMPAIRS YOUR
ABILITY TO DRIVE A CAR OR OPERATE
MACHINERY, AND MAY CAUSE HEALTH
PROBLEMS.
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Old
Bottle Labels
The
smaller label on the back of the
old bottle of Overholt
Whiskey reads as follows.
OLD OVERHOLT
STRAIGHT
RYE WHISKEY
BOTTLED IN
BOND
"THIS BOTTLE
HAS BEEN FILLED AND STAMPED UNDER
THE PRO-
VISIONS OF SECTIONS 2903-2909,
INCLUSIVE, INTERNAL REVENUE CODE.
ANY PERSON WHO SHALL REUSE THE
STAMP AFFIXED TO THIS BOTTLE
OR REMOVE THE CONTENTS OF THIS
BOTTLE WITHOUT SO DESTROYING
THE STAMP AFFIXED THERETO AS TO
PREVENT REUSE, OR WHO SHALL
SELL THIS BOTTLE, OR REUSE IT FOR
DISTILLED SPIRITS, WILL BE
LIABLE TO THE PENALITIES
PRESCRIBED BY LAW".
DISTILLED AND
BOTTLED BY
A. OVERHOLT
& CO., INC., BROAD FORD, PA;
REG. DIST.
NO. 3 PA. - I.R.B.W. NO. 3 PA.;
DISTRIBUTED BY
NATIONAL DISTILLERS PRODUCTS
CORP., NEW YORK. N.Y.
5101-1
The
photograph atop the cork has the
name CARLISLE below it. An
additional marking of some kind
is under the label, on the
cork.When I was carefully washing
away the leakage from the
Borghoff bottle (which sadly also
removed the aroma of the
contents), a portion of the red
band encircling the neck came
apart, but the label across the
top remained intact and reads as
follows.
4/5 Quart; Made Fall
1945;
Bottled Fall 1950;
51-(and the rest of the number);
BOTTLED IN BOND UNDER THE
SUPERVISION OF THE
U.S. GOVERNMENT INTERNAL REVENUE
BONDED WAREHOUSE;
A. Overholt & Co., Inc.; 100
PROOF
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Just Who Bottles Overholt
Whiskey These Days?
It is very confusing when
someone tries to track down the current
distiller of Overholt Whiskey.
From my efforts in the past, I discovered
Jim Beam Brands Company owns the
trademark rights and distills the rye
whiskey labeled Old Overholt.
However, from recent correspondence with
the Pennsylvania Liquor Board, I learned
it is Fortune Brands Company --
doing business in Pennsylvania as Future
Brands LLC Company -- who owns the
brand, though you will find no mention of
it on their company web sites, or on the Jim
Beam web site, for that matter. Fortune
Brands is a division of Jim Beam
(aka, Jim Beam Brands Worldwide, Inc.).
Next Question: Exactly where
is Old Overholt Straight Rye Whiskey
currently being distilled and bottled?
According to the modern label, it is
bottled at Frankfort - Clermont,
KY by A. Overholt & Co. But
we all know that A. Overholt &
Company no longer exists, right? I
surmise the company name is legally part
of the brand name, and Jim Beam
Brands owns the rights to it.
"DISTILLED IN KENTUCKY," is
what the label states, so I guess the
whole process is accomplished in the same
place that Jim Beam is created.
A Photo Waiting to be
Taken; A Story Itching to be Told
I believe it would be nice to
have a photograph of the site where Old
Overholt is currently being
distilled. To that end, if anyone can
obtain a nice panoramic view of the site
in Kentucky (or wherever), please send it
to me, and I will publish it, either on
this web page or on its own page.
Additionally, if a good reporter in
Clermont can swing permission to obtain
some photographs of the actual process
inside the distillery, and manage to
interview a few key personnel for a nice
article, and then please send me the
results. That would make a great web
page, and I (and other Overholt
enthusiasts) would be hugely grateful!
All submissions will happily display
bylines!
 I often
see ads on Ebay about Overholt
items, and many times, they are
for old bottles of Overholt
Whiskey.
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Buying
Bottles?
It
appears private individuals are
selling old Broad Ford bottles,
some old pint bottles, and others
sporting newer labels.
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 I offer
the simple reminder that buyers
should make absolutely sure of
what is being sold, before
putting their money down.
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Thanking Chuck Borghoff
It has been wonderful having
this fine old bottle of Overholt
Whiskey on hand.
Thank you again and again for the gift,
Chuck!
I will be keeping it for something very
special.
~ Updated March 20, 2008
~
Searching for
Genealogical Data
Almost every week, my Internet
correspondents let me know that a new
genealogical branch has come to light for
The Extended Overholt Family. This is
always a delight to me, because my whole
adventure into the World Wide Web was
taken precisely to find my
"long-lost relatives." Back in
2002, Chuck Borghoff wrote to me for
purely magnanimus reasons, asking if I
would like to have an old bottle of Overholt
Whiskey, and then went to the
trouble of sending me that bottle, which
I still have, by the way! I am saving it
and its contents for some really special
occasion sometime in the future. Now I
have a chance to help Chuck, in return.
The following is taken from
an e-mail from Chuck Borghoff, dated
March 20, 2008.
Hi, Karen,
It's been a while, but I
thought I would update you on our family
connection. It appears my grandfather
Frank Borghoff had a sister, Elizabeth
(Beth) Borghoff, who married an Overholt
in Omaha, Nebraska. My brother has been
doing the research and believes she lived
there until her death around 1930. So, we
are connected, but not related. Do you
know anyone from the Omaha Overholts who
we can contact? Hope all is well with
your family.
Thanks,
Chuck
My first task was to update Chuck's
e-address and change his designation from
"Overholt Interest" to "Extended Family,"
then I picked up The Oberholtzer Book and
looked for Borghoff data, then anything that
mentioned Nebraska, but was unsuccessful.
After scanning other reference books, and
coming up with no leads, I typed up an e-mail
giving Chuck a few ideas on how to do some
simple online genealogical research. One of
the best ways of finding information about
any Overholt families around Omaha, Nebraska
(or anyplace else in the country) is to
advertise on GenForum's
web page for the Overholt Family.
Forgive me, as I proudly remind
everybody that this GenForum
page was joyfully launched by me, back in
December 1999. To date (3-20-08), it has
295 entries!
Another great resource is the
Overholser Family Association, which has a
great deal of genealogical data, much that
does not appear in Barbara Ford's great
volume, The Oberholtzer Book.
Currently, Dennis Oberholtzer has taken over
the genealogical duties, since the passing of
Barbara this past winter. His e-mail address
is below. And if anybody can help with this project,
please contact Chuck Borghoff directly at
the following e-address. Thanks so much!
"Charles Borghoff" woodchuck6@gmail.com
"Dennis Oberholtzer" dloberholtzer@comcast.net
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