# Old Alcohol Names **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 15, 2010, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-alcohol-names/553861 "2010-09-15T16:06:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fried_Dough_Ho)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-alcohol-names/553861/1 "2010-09-15T16:06:36Z")
I went into a bar the other day and saw the following names: Old Crow Old Grand Dad Old Fitzgerald Old Taylor Old Overholt Old Sunnybrook My question is – were there ever any YOUNG versions of any of these? What is they etymology of the “Old” alcohol brands? ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-alcohol-names/553861/2 "2010-09-15T16:19:16Z")
WAG but I believe the “Old” is a reference to aging. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-alcohol-names/553861/3 "2010-09-15T16:32:56Z")
Aging, as well as the implication that this was an alcohol brand that has been around for many years, so we know what we’re doing. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-alcohol-names/553861/4 "2010-09-15T16:33:38Z")
Young alcohol is an attribution mainly to moonshine. ---
**Author:** ![Anaglyph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Anaglyph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaglyph)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-alcohol-names/553861/5 "2010-09-15T17:32:46Z")
> [@Fried\_Dough\_Ho](#): > > I went into a bar the other day and saw the following names: > > Old Crow > Old Grand Dad > Old Fitzgerald > Old Taylor > Old Overholt > Old Sunnybrook > My question is – were there ever any YOUNG versions of any of these? What is they etymology of the “Old” alcohol brands? There is Jonge Genever. With genever, the difference between oude (old) Genever and jonge (young) genever does not derive from aging, but on the distilling process ([wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenever)) ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-alcohol-names/553861/6 "2010-09-15T17:35:03Z")
‘Old’ implies matured spirits rather than rotgut distilled last week. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-alcohol-names/553861/7 "2010-09-15T17:37:08Z")
On top of which, “Young Grand Dad” would sound incongruous … ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-alcohol-names/553861/8 "2010-09-15T17:48:10Z")
[There](http://www.ratebeer.com/beerimages/65066.jpg) [are](http://www.ratebeer.com/beerimages/17007.jpg) [some](http://www.ratebeer.com/beerimages/40648.jpg) alchoholic beverages with the word [young](http://www.ratebeer.com/beerimages/1250.gif) or [new](http://www.ratebeer.com/beerimages/33685.jpg) in their name. But they are all beer, not liquor. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-alcohol-names/553861/9 "2010-09-15T22:45:11Z")
The V.O. in Seagram’s V.O. stands for Very Old ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-alcohol-names/553861/10 "2010-09-16T09:54:39Z")
Then again you have [Young’s brewery](http://www.youngs.co.uk/) in London. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![kferr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71e660/32.png) [@kferr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kferr)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-alcohol-names/553861/11 "2010-09-16T11:17:38Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > Then again you have [Young’s brewery](http://www.youngs.co.uk/) in London. 😉 Except it’s not in London any more. Young’s merged with Charles Wells and closed the Ram brewery in London. All its beer is brewed in Bedford now. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-alcohol-names/553861/12 "2010-09-16T11:58:28Z")
Is nothing holy anymore? ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-alcohol-names/553861/13 "2010-09-16T12:11:43Z")
I had a couple of pints of [Old Slug](http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/748/2548) at the weekend - very nice! (sitting out the back at the Sheep Heid Inn at Duddingston, if any other Edinburgh Dopers want to try it) ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-alcohol-names/553861/14 "2010-09-16T13:02:13Z")
Old Peculiar, is one of my favorites. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-alcohol-names/553861/15 "2010-09-16T13:05:02Z")
Speaking of old alcohol names, the word “alcohol” is a cognate (that is, the same word in two different languages) with ancient Sumerian. It’s the oldest cognate I know. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-alcohol-names/553861/16 "2010-09-16T13:16:24Z")
Then there’s even “Ancient Age”, which I guess presumes to date itself relative to stages in the Laramide Orogeny. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-alcohol-names/553861/17 "2010-09-16T17:13:42Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > Then again you have [Young’s brewery](http://www.youngs.co.uk/) in London. 😉 And Yuengling in Pennsylvania, which seems to be an Anglicization of the German Jüngling, meaning young person. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-alcohol-names/553861/18 "2010-09-16T17:45:13Z")
> [@robert\_andrews](#): > > > [@Floater](#): > > > > Then again you have [Young’s brewery](http://www.youngs.co.uk/) in London. 😉 > > And Yuengling in Pennsylvania, which seems to be an Anglicization of the German Jüngling, meaning young person. Which begs to be called “Old Yuengling” ---
**Author:** ![Cerowyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Cerowyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerowyn)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-alcohol-names/553861/19 "2010-09-16T22:25:51Z")
> [@Peanuthead](#): > > The V.O. in Seagram’s V.O. stands for Very Old Actually, it stands for “Very Own.” Perhaps you are conflating it with Cognac designations, such as VS, VSOP (Very Special Old Pale) and XO (eXtra Old). ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2010, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-alcohol-names/553861/20 "2010-09-17T14:56:10Z")
> [@Cerowyn](#): > > > [@Peanuthead](#): > > > > The V.O. in Seagram’s V.O. stands for Very Old > > Actually, it stands for “Very Own.” Perhaps you are conflating it with Cognac designations, such as VS, VSOP (Very Special Old Pale) and XO (eXtra Old). Guess I got my whiskey and cognac mixed up. Thanks for the info. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-alcohol-names/553861.md?page=2)