The name and the branding are forgettable cliches. The whiskey inside is anything but.
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If you’re playing bourbon bingo, Old Grand-Dad 114 covers the whole sheet. The label pictures an elderly man, “Old” is in the name, it uses a cheap cork stopper (when a screwcap would be better for everyone) and it claims to be “the most unique bourbon you can buy” on the back label.
Old Grand-Dad 114 is not a tired brand revived to make its owner, Beam Suntory, stacks of cash. Shoot, every year there seems to rumors that it will be quietly discontinued, and Beam Suntory doesn’t even list the bottle on its site.
No, Old Grand-Dad is Trojan Horse bourbon; a hapless, harmless looking bottle of whiskey that, once opened, will throw hands. In fact, it might even become your new favorite daily drinker.
Old Grand-Dad 114 may take a boring form, but it makes the whiskey around its price point seem uninteresting and played out.
Jim Beam keeps its mashbills proprietary, but it’s widely accepted Old Grand-Dad’s is high-rye — like, up to 30 percent rye, or about twice the rye content than most bourbons. This, combined with an assumed maturation period of four to six years and a thick 114 proofing, makes for a bourbon with serious firepower. It’s the only Jim Beam acquisition brand of the last few decades to retain its pre-acquisition mashbill (others, like Old Crow, switched to standard Jim Beam distillate), too.
A bottle can be had in most markets for $25 to $30. That price range is typified by nice, middle-proof bourbons with more … down-the-middle flavor profiles. Old Grand-Dad 114 may take a boring form, but it makes the whiskey around its price point seem uninteresting and played out.
Buy a bottle before Jim Beam wakes up, redesigns the bottle and bumps the price to $45. Or worse, officially discontinues the brand for good.
I’m guessing it won’t be the last one you do.
Total Wine