Old Grand-Dad Bourbon Whiskey 750ml

Old Grand-Dad Bourbon takes its name from Meredith Basil Hayden Sr., a pioneering Kentucky distiller whose high-rye recipe became legendary in his lifetime. His grandson, Colonel Raymond B. Hayden, honored him by founding the brand in 1882 at the R.B. Hayden & Company Distillery in Nelson County, Kentucky. The label passed through the Wathen family and later National Distillers, both of whom preserved its distinctive high-rye character, before Jim Beam acquired the brand in 1987 as part of its purchase of National Distillers.

Old Grand-Dad is distilled at the Jim Beam Plant in Clermont, Kentucky, using a mash bill of roughly 63 percent corn, 27 percent rye, and 10 percent malted barley, a notably rye-forward recipe shared only with sibling brand Basil Hayden's within the Beam portfolio. After fermentation and column distillation, the whiskey matures in new charred oak barrels for a minimum of four years. The standard expression is bottled at 80 proof, offering a more restrained take on the brand's peppery character compared to its higher-proof Bottled in Bond and 114 proof siblings.

On the nose, Old Grand-Dad delivers a sharp prickle of rye spice alongside vanilla and citrus, with hints of berry and leather. The palate carries corn sweetness and vanilla against orange peel and cinnamon, while the finish stays true to the brand's rye-driven roots, closing with peppery warmth and toasted oak.