Old J.W. Corn bottle

[MikeK]

I just picked up an old bottle of J. W. Corn. I was wondering if anyone can give me a ballpark date on this?

I'll attach a picture of the front label below. The tax stamp has no dates on it. The back label reads:

Straight Corn Whiskey
100 Proof
This Whiskey is 8 Years Old
Distilled in Indiana
Bottled by James Walsh & Co.
Lawrenceberg, Kentucky

Do the numbers stamped on the bottom glass mean anything?
There is a "69" and "62" next to each other.
It also reads "D401"
There is also a weird symbol that looks like 2 interlocked British pound symbols in a circle.

BTW, I will be drinking this at some point

Thanks for any opinions,

Mike

[bourbonv]

Mike,
JW Corn was a Schenley product - a corn version of JW Dant, back in the 60's and 70's. I am sure that the brand was sold to Heaven Hill in the Early 90's. What you have here is corn whiskey made at the Schenley Lawrenceburg, Indiana plant, probably for one of their blended whiskeys as well as their corn whiskey brands. It should taste pretty good as a corn whiskey, but don't expect anything outstanding.

Mike Veach

[MikeK]

Mike,

Thanks for the info.

As Jim Murray might say, ones whiskey apprenticeship is not complete without coming to terms with Corn Whiskey.

Even in KY I found corn whiskey not easy to find. I brought back a bottle of Mellow Corn from the Sampler and recently started working on it. It is interesting and quite enjoyable in its own special way. I like it.

Does HH still make JW Corn? I have never seen a bottle. So when I saw this older bottle for sale (and I got it fairly cheap) I thought it would be fun to try some from a while back.

Thanks,
Mike

[bourbonv]

Mike,
I am not sure if Heaven Hill has kept this brand alive or not. If you find a recent bottling of J W Corn, you can pretty much guarantee it is Heaven Hill whiskey. I doubt that they kept the brand alive because they kept Mellow Corn. I doubt they felt they needed two corn whiskeys in their portfolio.

Mike Veach

[EllenJ]

Heaven Hill, bless their hearts, market several brands of corn whiskey. J.W.Corn is available through the Virginia Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) stores and we have them in our collection. There is a thread here on this forum (I don't recall where) that compares corn whiskeys, and we noted that J. W. Corn -- even though now made by the same Heaven Hill that bottles Mellow Corn -- has a distinctive flavor of its own (less oily, if I remember correctly).

Mike noted the relationship to J. W. Dant, which he may have taken from a suggestion I made. But your example showing the distiller as James Walsh seems to relate to "J. W." just as well, and the Lawrenceburg, Kentucky location makes me wonder if it were not related in some way to the Ripy brothers' distilleries.

[bourbonv]

John,
You are right and I am mistaken here. the "J.W." probably is for James Walsh. J W Dant did do a corn whiskey at one time. As a matter of fact there were labels in the U D Archive for a J W Dant corn, rye, blended, vodka and gin brands. That was what I was thinking of but looking at the label there is not the tademark corn kernals.

Mike Veach

[MikeK]

I took a few better pictures of this bottle today. I'm planning to pop the top in the near future (since I've finished the bottle of Mellow Corn I brought back from KY) and wanted to have pictures first.

It should be quite interesting, I'll post some notes in the next few weeks.

[MikeK]

And here is the back...

[gillmang]

The rear picture of that James Walsh 8 year old corn whiskey is an evocative piece of Americana. It "is what it is", uncontrived and real, whence its minimalist elegance.

The front picture is nice too but in a more obvious, folksy way.

I hope it tastes as good as it looks but even if it tastes like gasoline any owner of that bottle should be proud.

Gary

[MikeK]

Gary,

I've enjoyed a few pours over the last couple weeks and it is quite nice. The nose is sweet with caramel, pear, mint, and a hint of cranberry. There is a slight alcohol burn in the nose and palate. The taste is sweet and creamy. It is light and elegant, very pleasant. The finish is light and sweet, with medium length.

This is completely different than the 'modern' corn whiskey I've tasted, Mellow Corn, which is a 4yo BIB. Mellow Corn gives a heavy nose and flavor of corn and corn oil. I like it a lot. This vintage JW Corn does not have the heavy corn presence, but is light and elegant, like a white wine.

What a fun comparison!

[gillmang]

Thanks Mike, very interesting. I am sure there were many flavors of corn whisky in the old days and sounds like you found a good one. I like the Mellow Corn too but I am sure that is just one of the many tastes corn whisky had in its heyday.

The fruity, winy notes derive from new make and the fact of these not being obscured or changed by new charred oak aging.

However a bourbon that offers the best kind of "fruit wine" (Jim Murray said "kumquats") taste married to traditional bourbon aging is Old Weller 107 Proof. That really is a find for me and assuming the bottlings are consistent I plan to have some always on hand.

Gary