Review #352 - Old Grand-Dad 114 — Me, My Wife & Whisky

Jim Beam's 'Old Grand-Dad' brand is named for Basil Hayden Sr., one of the legends in Beam lore. He made his bourbon using a high-rye recipe for added spicy flavors, and that's what we still get today: a mashbill of 63% corn, 27% rye, and 10% malted barley.

There's a variety of products in the Old Grand-Dad range, starting with the entry-level 80 proof version; we also get the 'Bonded' product, which is aged 4 years and bottled-in-bond, as well as this 114 proof NAS version, and there are rumors of an upcoming 16 year age-stated Old Grand-Dad release.

This '114' bourbon doesn't carry an age statement, but we get a strong proof point of 114 (57% ABV); for a bourbon that costs under $30, that already seems like a good deal. Will the flavors be good enough to validate that value?

Old Grand-Dad 114

USA - Bourbon

Price Paid: USD 25 (2023)

Current Locally Available Price: USD 25 (2024)

Age Statement: NAS

Strength: 57% ABV

Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 4 times over 2 years; bottles at 90%, 60%, 100%, and 90% (blind tasting) fill levels at times of review. Tasted in a Glencairn glass each time, rested 10-15 minutes

Nose: Oaky, with lots of baking notes: raw sugar, caramel and butterscotch, pepper and anise spice. We get a soft leathery note with that oak, and it's a somewhat balanced nose, not too sweet or too dry. Slightly simple, though with more time, a soft fruit appears in the background - dark cocktail cherry, or maybe blackberry.

Palate: The mouthfeel is medium-thick; it's rounded and oily, and the oak is still strong, though we now get a lot of nutty notes, too: peanut brittle and honey roasted peanuts, especially. Caramel and cinnamon sugar add more sweet notes, and there's a black pepper and anise kick of spice showing that rye influence. At the end, we get hot spiced orange; it's nice and warm overall.

Finish: Medium-long, quite warm but not overly hot, and baking spices are still the main theme. Brown sugar, pepper, and spiced caramel dominate, but there are accent flavors of oak, oranges, and cocktail cherries; in the aftertaste, tannins prickle the palate.

Final Note: This leans a little bit toward the simple side, but it's quite tasty, both for neat sipping and as a base for cocktails. You get some of the classic Beam notes with the nutty flavors and baking spices, and you can definitely feel the higher rye proportion in the mashbill adding that kick of spice in the palate. It drinks a little hot at times, but it's never overwhelming in that regard.

In terms of value, this bottle is excellent - one of the highest value bottles that we've rated. It has actually gotten cheaper and easier to find in the last few years in our area, which is great to see, going against the trend of increasing prices that most whiskies are experiencing. This one gets a strong recommendation from us.

Our Average Rating: 6.5 / 10

In the current whisky landscape of increasing prices and variable quality, we've added a value rating to our reviews that relates to the score and the available pricing of each whisky. This roughly equates to a 0-10 scale; no reviews so far have exceeded a score of 10, although it is technically possible for the formula to produce a value rating higher than 10 with a high enough score and low enough price.

Value Rating: 8.44

About Us: We're a husband and wife review team living in the Midwest United States. Generally, our reviews and tasting notes will be a compilation of both of our experiences with a whisky over several tasting sessions.