West Overton fundraiser guests will sample long-awaited rye distilled on-site

Shirley McMarlin
Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2021 9:01 a.m. | Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2021 9:01 a.m.

4334298_web1_gtr-WOvertonWhiskey005-070919

Tribune-Review

Aleasha Monroe, West Overton Village chief operating officer, tastes the white whiskey during a 2019 stripping run of the West Overton Distilling rye whiskey being made at the East Huntingdon historical site.

Details

Oldest around
Old Overholt, born at West Overton, Westmoreland County, is America's oldest whiskey brand — having been continually maintained and produced for more than 200 years.
Henry Overholt (born Henrich Oberholtzer in 1739), in 1800 trekked from Bucks County, over the Allegheny Mountains to Westmoreland, settling around Jacobs Creek, in what now is known as the village of West Overton, located about 40 minutes east of Pittsburgh. Overholt was a farmer who distilled excess grain into whiskey, a tradition passed down through his German and Swiss heritage.
In 1810, Abe Overholt transformed his father's distilling operation into a commercial business — eventually known as A. Overholt & Co.. It would become one of the first distilleries to bottle and market its own brand, Old Farm Pure Rye Whiskey, advertise nationally by name and adopt the bottled-in-bond process, created by federal law in 1897 to set regulations on whiskey production and guarantee authenticity.
Overholt later expanded his operation from West Overton to a sprawling complex just across the border in Broad Ford, Fayette County. Old Overholt now is made in Kentucky and owned by Beam Suntory, which bought the brand in the late 1980s and introducted corn to the recipe.
Years after Abraham's death in 1870, the brand was renamed Old Overholt Rye Whiskey and included his scowling likeness on the label.
Beam Suntory last year revamped the brand.
— Tribune-Review

Email Newsletters

Guests at West Overton Village and Museums’ upcoming fundraising dinner will be among the first to sample the long-awaited rye whiskey being distilled on-site.

The dinner is scheduled for 5-8:30 p.m. Nov. 5 at the East Huntingdon historical complex.

It’s been more than 100 years since whiskey was distilled at West Overton. The current West Overton distilling project has been in the works for more than a decade.

“We use a traditional Monongahela-style sweet mash consisting of 80% rye and 20% malted barley, never add any corn, barrel it at a low entry proof of 110, and age our barrels in a climate-controlled space,” said Aleasha Monroe, West Overton’s chief operating officer. “That process gets us as close as possible (at this stage of our distilling journey) to the way the Overholts made their whiskey in the 1800s.”

Elegant Catering will serve a menu featuring poached pear salad, Oysters Rockefeller and filet medallion, or broccoli and mushroom-stuffed chicken breast served au jus, tri-color duck fat mashed fingerlings and French beans.

Distillers featured in the four-sample tasting flight of Pennsylvania rye whiskeys will be Old Overholt, Dad’s Hat, Liberty Pole, Stoll & Wolfe and West Overton Distilling.

The Nov. 5 benefit also will feature a panel of experts examining the history and future of Pennsylvania rye whiskey.

Four panelists will delve into the specific question, “What exactly defines Pennsylvania Rye Whiskey?” Their discussion will start with the subsistence farming of the early 1800s and move through the dry years of Prohibition and into the present.

“Are the makings of a PA Rye that of taste, mash bill, terroir, provenance or maybe even marketing speak? Who gets to decide? We’ll solve this debate once and for all (or at least go out swinging),” Monroe said.

Panelists will include:

• David Wondrich is widely hailed as one of the world’s foremost authorities on the history of the cocktail and a founder of the modern craft cocktail movement. Wondrich is senior drinks columnist for the Daily Beast and former drinks correspondent for Esquire.

• Lew Bryson has been writing about beer and spirits full-time since 1995. A former managing editor of Whisky Advocate magazine, he is currently a senior drinks writer for The Daily Beast and columnist for Craft Spirits magazine.

• Steve Bashore is director of historic trades at George Washington’s Mount Vernon, overseeing the interpretation, operations and maintenance of Washington’s Distillery, Gristmill and Farm and Blacksmith Shop. A traditional miller and distiller by trade, he has been distilling at Washington’s reconstructed distillery since 2007.

• Sam Komlenic, a Ruffs Dale native and Pennsylvania whiskey historian, has been the copy editor for Whisky Advocate magazine for 15 years and is an inaugural member of the Kentucky Distillers’ Association’s Order of the Writ.

Dinner attendees must be 21 or older. A ticket is $150 and must be purchased in advance. Following the fundraiser, West Overton Distilling Monongahela Rye will be available in the West Overton tasting room during regular tour hours. The 375-milliliter (12.7 ounce) bottle will be $50.

For reservations or more information on West Overton’s operating hours and tours, visit westovertonvillage.org.