Bourbon Reviews:




Bottling NameOld Grand Dad
Bottled ByOld Grand Dad Frankfort,Ky
TypeKentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Alcohol content100 Proof
Availability US: No Longer Available Japan: Not Available Duty Free: Not Available Europe: Not Available
Mashbill InfoHigh rye
Age0
Views (since 20080612) 31069
Bottling InfoDSP-14
Old Grand Dad Distillery, Frankfort, Ky.
Facility is now owned by Beam and is used for warehousing and bottling.



Review from gillmang (BourbonEnthusiast Review ID 2024, Created:20120102115731, Updated:20120102125948) View discussion on this review.
Purchased at:New York
Purchased for:$8.00 for 250 ml, current bottling.
Nose:Very little nose, but that's okay, i.e., the dry yeast/anise/orange rind-like notes I generally get from the Beam line are absent.
Taste:Full-flavoured with hints of grain and good medium-toasted wood notes. Silky on the palate despite the proof. Some ginger but again not a hint of the typical Beam notes mentioned above. Still, it is very much a Beam whiskey, the underlying structure.
Finish:Not lengthy but pleasant. Bourbon should age long enough to convert the flavors of white dog into pleasant esters and other compounds but I don't like when bourbon is too tannic/woody: this one avoids that.
Overall:One of the best bottles of bourbon I've had in years. It shows that bourbon can be excellent even though not rich and chocolately-like (say like ETL/RHF), or fruity-floral (the excellent Four Roses line). While different from the ND-era of OGD, this bottling is superlative and I hope the next bottles will be similar.

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Review from whiskeybreath (BourbonEnthusiast Review ID 1947, Created:20110327222412) View discussion on this review.
Purchased at:Lillie's package liqour store
Purchased for:$11@ liter
Info on this bottle:Distilled in spring of 1981;bottled fall 1989
Nose:Now thats complex. Mix of grains and chocolate-YUM!
Taste:Malt & caramel. Slight oak. Left a taste of buttery sweet corn in my mouth.
Finish:Medium-long, just right.
Overall:Old Grand Dad BIB was National Distillers king of the hill. In my opinion, it is the bourbon all the others wished they could be. This was my "Lost Weekend" hooch back in my younger days. I was thrilled to have found it. I don't understand why folks pay the big $ for new "limited editions", when they can go to ebay and buy this jewel for the same price or often less. OGD BIB {National Distillers} is the standard by which the others should be judged.

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Review from Dump Bucket (BourbonEnthusiast Review ID 1789, Created:20100117181033)
Purchased at:Gift from BoB
Info on this bottle:1958-62
Nose:I since the OGD right from the start. There is the ryed notes coming out strong with a touch of, of, of, hmmm, rubber or grain alcohol.
Taste:Lighter than I would have thought. Does not have the full mouth fee of the normal OGD BIBs I have had from this era. Very good with the rye, corn, and some oak, but missing that signature OGD/ND full mouth feel and oily texture.
Finish:Short for the sweetness and then a dryer touch that almost has a bite to it.
Overall:I need to revisit this. It is missing all of the ND components that I expect. The flavors are there, but the taste is lacking. My guess is this bottle must have been slightly open to the elements over the last 4.5 decades. It has signs of over oxidation to me., but maybe it just me tonight??? I will be back

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Review from gillmang (BourbonEnthusiast Review ID 1663, Created:20090827191738, Updated:20090827192046)
Purchased at:Edge of French Quarter, small store, New Orleans, two years ago
Purchased for:$49.00 for a 1.75 L
Info on this bottle:Frankfort-labelled, stamped 1988 underside
Nose:Rich dates/figs, dark brown sugar, some spice
Taste:Sweet and round in the mouth, like old brandy if made with corn and char and tobacco, lots of flavour on the palate
Finish:Long, round, elegant
Overall:A 10. A type seemingly not made today (the style). Heavy and big-bodied, from another era.

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Review from Mike (BourbonEnthusiast Review ID 1519, Created:20090309203050, Updated:20090608224756)
Purchased at:
Info on this bottle:ND
Proof Of this Bottle:100
Nose:Robust, slightly alcoholic in an intensely reviting and 'all hands on deck' way..........not objectable. Warm rye and fruity/floral aromas play with the alcohol like a rag doll tossed about by a playful puppy. This is real bourbon, no apologies, no pretense, the straight forward in your face unadluterated wonderful STUFF.
Taste:Sweet corn, sweet rye (yep, I said it right), critrusy fruit, rye bite, hot pepper, cinnamon heat.........goes right to the edge of too much.......but not over!
Finish:Barely knows when to quit......again right to the edge!
Overall:'Tis beyond my abliity to understand how any bourbon lover could not appreciate the raw beauty and power of OGD.........it is elemental in its bourbonness. To my palate it is bourbon's ground zero.........all bourbon roads lead away from here. Everything that's great in bourbon lives here in some degree. It might overwhelm the beginner, but to appreciate the top shelf and exceptional bourbons you must (in my opinion) go through Old Grand Dad.

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Review from gillmang (BourbonEnthusiast Review ID 1350, Created:20081113124713, Updated:20090517204239) View discussion on this review.
Purchased at:New York some time ago
Purchased for:$41.00 for a 1.75 handle
Info on this bottle:Stamped 1987 on underbase, ND production
Nose:Dark caramel, dark fruit, some cured wood
Taste:Sweet, like dates, good dark cherry character, some heft, good old wood taste but not really charred tasting
Finish:In the finish you get a tinge of the gingerbread/musty/anise flavor that survives but in a bigger way in the current OG. It is buried and modified by aging in excellent, probably old growth wood casks, and as Mike Veach speculates for his 86 proof version reviewed below, the whiskey probably is at least 10 years old vs. I'd estimate half that for the current bottling. A fine taste of history in excellent condition with perhaps some faint oxidation but nothing too serious (I seem to notice it some times but not others).
Overall:Really good stuff, similar to what Tim reviews from about 30 years earlier. Having tasted courtesy Mike that 22 year old Old Forester from the 30's, I can see that had the aging of the 1987 and no doubt 1950's OG continued as long, it would taste like that. Somehow in the old days they got this big molasses/chocolate-like character into the whiskeys. Rum-like (dark Demerara) is another way to put it.

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Review from Lucy C (BourbonEnthusiast Review ID 1344, Created:20081108231702, Updated:20090517204313)
Purchased at:Auction/Gift
Purchased for:$0
Info on this bottle:Old Grand-Dad 100 proof 1.75 Liter Made Spring 1975 Bottled Fall 1982
Nose:[Olfactory impressions]Like a really old caremel apple that has sat on top of the stove and gotten half-baked a few dozen times from the warm stove-top.
So old, that the apple is starting to rot inside of the caremel shell. The kind of lingering stink that fruit flies would go crazy for!
Taste:[Description of the initial taste impression] Rotgut whiskey
Finish:[Description of the lingering taste impression] Apparently, Old Grand-Dad doesn't age well. One hit from this 33 year whiskey in a 26 year old bottle should get you stoned! But I have drank several, and I am still writing. What's up w/ that?
Overall:[Overall impression of this bottling] I will be glad when this bottle is empty. I would go ahead and pour the rest down the drain, but the bottle is cool, and i have to earn it empty.

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Review from TNbourbon (BourbonEnthusiast Review ID 810, Created:20070717172102, Updated:20090517204650) View discussion on this review.
Purchased at:eBay
Purchased for:c. $110
Info on this bottle:Distilled by Old Grand-Dad Distillery Company, (DSP-14), Frankfort, Kentucky Distilled by Old Grand-Dad Distillery Company, (DSP-14), Frankfort, Kentucky (distilled Spring 1957, bottled Fall 1961)
Nose:Rich, sweet vanilla icing. Layered thick.
Taste:Spice cake (no wonder it's frosted!); a bit prickly upon entry, but moderately so; cinnamon sugar; some orange marmalade; veneer-thin undercoating of leather.
Finish:I'm still waiting for the end, so I guess it's pretty long, but without a lot of fireworks. Just the soothing dissipation of orange and leather.
Overall:When this was made, this was the standard Old Grand-Dad bottling (in a nice decanter for premium pricing, I assume). That's the really remarkable thing about it -- it's an equal to a lot of premium-priced bottles on upper shelves today. It's enough to make you ponder which of today's bottlings to set aside in quantity for 20, 30, or (for someone else) 50 years from now in order to elicit a "Ya know, they don't make it like they used to, do they?". I wish someone had left me a substantial stash of this.

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Review from gillmang (BourbonEnthusiast Review ID 748, Created:20070421082045, Updated:20090517204733) View discussion on this review.
Purchased at:Bucktown, Chicago in a small corner grocery/liquor store, languishing on a top shelf.
Purchased for:$17.99
Info on this bottle:Apparent 1989 bottling (from base embossing information), Bonded, label referring to distilling and bottling in Frankfort only
Nose:Heady pure smell of dark caramel and interior of a whiskey warehouse. Some light spice also.
Taste:First, I was surprised by the mouthfeel which (compared to the current OG) was round and full with few rough edges. The body was fairly heavy. The taste disclosed deep flavors of dark candy corn, non-tannic wood, and some light smoke, with a gingerbread-like backdrop. Also, there was the typical black fruit note found in ND bourbon, a complex fermentation flavor, probably.
Finish:Long, full, complete.
Overall:I place this in my top 5 straight whiskeys in 30 years of bourbon tasting, maybe number 1. (Others include a recent WT rye and Weller 107, Hirsch 20 and one or two S-W brands from the 50's-70's). Everything was right about it, and nothing wrong. Its connection to current OG is apparent but only in a small way, namely what I assume is the small grains aftertaste which is like black pepper or gingerbread. In the 89 'OG it fits in perfectly, in the current OG I find it too strong a taste. The review just below is an excellent summary of current OG but the ND one was a horse of a different color. This '89 OG had a green stamp over the capsule but without distilling and bottling dates, this appears to be the last form of paper stamp covering the capsule before the practice ended.

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Review from gillmang (BourbonEnthusiast Review ID 681, Created:20070105182758, Updated:20090517205059)
Purchased at:From a window display of minis in a Las Vegas liquor store
Purchased for:$5.00
Info on this bottle:Bonded, Distilled Fall 1971 Bottled Spring 1980, a glass 50 ml. miniature bottle.
Proof Of this Bottle:100
Nose:That typical quality bourbon palate of damask rose, light wood smoke. The nose is similar to that of the Wild Turkey rye I just reviewed but is deeper and richer, showing notes of caramel and cream.
Taste:Very firm and chewy, not soft or elegant but vigorous and full. Wood shows in the mid-palate, not too much smoke, the grains full and well-integrated though. Ethanol tangs throughout. Like dipping a granola bar in spirit. Softens in the glass, it must be said.
Finish:Quite dry with light tangs of rye I think, and wood.
Overall:An unusual 9 years old but doesn't taste like it. Probably it was aged in a slow part of the warehouse. This was the all-Frankfort product (DSP KY. 14). I don't see much connection to the current Old Grand-dad although I know some feel there is. (I think John (Strayed) has expressed that view). This is fine liquor but Old Grand-dad was never an elegant whiskey, which is probably a good thing. :)

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