Old Grand-dad
“The young man knows the rules, but the old man knows the exceptions.”
Old Grandad is distilled at Jim Beam distillery in Clermont, Kentucky, USA. The chap on the front of the bottle is Basil Hayden Snr whose grandson, Raymond B Hayden, created the brand. Basil Hayden is of course another brand of bourbon in its own right and part of the legendary Jim Beam small batch collection. The Hayden family has been distilling whiskey since 1840 but according to the Beam Suntory website (Suntory now being the owners of Jim Beam) this particular bourbon has been around since 1882 (other sources however do claim it was available since 1840) and is currently in the top 10 list of best-selling ‘straight’ bourbons.
During prohibition it was produced by the American Medicinal Spirits Co and was allowed to be sold as a medicine (what a time to be alive). The 40% ABV offering we are sampling only became available in 2013. As only water can be added to bourbon that is exactly what Jim Beam did and diluted the original 43% ABV version to gain more from their barrels. We wonder how many additional bottles that created? If you can still find a 43% ABV then we suggest you grab it while you can and let us know if there is much of a difference between the two.
Stark contrast between the nose and the palate. Very sweet and cake like on the nose, but the palate delivers a peppery, spicy offering. It is quite a complex nose and we are missing a lot on what other (more expert) reviews are finding. No hints of baked bread or marmalade for us unfortunately.
As an introduction to a different whiskey that you won’t find in UK supermarkets, it is well worth a purchase. It didn’t however blow us away (although there is a lot of love for this bourbon elsewhere on the internet so we are in the minority here) and we were left feeling that it was quite middle of the road. There is always the chance though that time proves us wrong on this one!
