Old Grand Dad 114

Congratulations on your first—and quite excellent—review, @Victor! It's always a treat to see more reviews of North American whiskeys from appreciators such as yourself. I've meant to try OGD for some time, and will have now have to look even harder. It's the same mashbill as Basil Hayden's, is it not?

@dbk, thank you for your kind words. I know that the mashbill for Basil Hayden's has a very high rye content, as do all of the OGDs. I do not know whether or not they are identical. It would be logical and economical for them to be the same, since they are all now Beam ("high rye mashbill") brands. OGD was a pre-existing brand acquired by Beam, whereas I believe that Basil Hayden's Small Batch was developed by Beam de novo. I am uncertain as to whether Beam first acquired OGD and then used the pre-existing OGD mashbill when developing BH or whether they developed their own new independent formula.

Hi @Victor, I looked into it a bit and yes, my memory didn't fail me: according to Chuck Cowdery, Basil Hayden's and Old Grad-Dad do indeed share the same high rye mashbill. As you say, Basil Hayden's was created de novo by the Beam team; they just happened to use Old Grand-Dad stocks to do it.

I've got a sample of Basil Hayden in my cabinet, but I've never seen Old Grand Dad on the shelf.

Paid $20 with coupon at Binny's. The solid bottle promises a robust pour. After a ten minute airing and a crackling of ice on top the aroma fills the nose with a semisweet reward and a hint of mint. The swallow is serene and juicy. The time-release of juices tames the alcohol burn to a reassuring warmth. The taste that remains cautions the celebrant to watch for the next coupons because there will never be a finish to the memories of this dram! But better yet my wife, a charter member of Babes Against Burn, loves it. Thanks again Victor. Rye on!

@plattvillepeat, Excellent to hear that you are enjoying OGD114! Few things bring a smile to my face more quickly and reliably than the very THOUGHT of Old Grand-Dad 114. Wonderful and hilarious whiskey...and very enjoyable.

@plattvillepeat, when you mentioned that your wife loves Old Grand-Dad 114, I should also have re-affirmed that my wife and both of my whiskey-loving older sisters love the stuff too. All four of us just start laughing and smiling when we so much as talk about OGD114, so many are our pleasant memories of drinking it.

I recently picked up a bottle of OGD 114 (partly because of this review and these comments). You guys are right--damn good stuff that is making me smile, too!

@cjkocher, Old Grand-Dad 114 is one of those whisk(e)ys which I like far more than the "87" rating which I gave to it two and a half years ago, when I initially did this review. It loses a few points on finesse here and there, but for fun, this one is a full 95,...you might say, a Screaming 95. For me and for my little local group of whiskey-girls (see comments above), Old Grand-Dad 114 is the unchallenged best good-times party whiskey.

I kind of hope that this hangs around forever, but never gets TOO popular, because I can easily see a 50-75% increase in the sales price occurring for Old Grand-Dad 114 at any time.

@Benancio, I will be happy to try your water added suggestion when I get the chance, probably when I am next at my sister's house. I have unopened Old Grand-Dad 114 here at the house, but too many open bottles to want to open one now.

CARPE DIEM! Today I discovered that Old Grand-Dad 114 has been "de-listed" from my county's 25 store liquor control system. There will be no more sold here after the current stocks are sold out. I quickly went out and bought 4 more bottles to add to my bottles in storage.

What does this mean, if anything, nationwide and world-wide? Is this the canary dying in the mine-shaft? Will OGD114 be discontinued as a brand expression, as some rumours floating around for the last year suggest, or is this just a local issue? Will OGD114 morph into some other product, re-branded as something else, no doubt at a higher price?

In true Montgomery County Dept of Liquor Control fashion, stocks of OGD114 are very high right now, much higher than they usually are. They do that around here just before a product is gone for good.

Whatever the case, I am very happy to have a few bottles of Old Grand-Dad 114 in my collection.

And in 2016 this still seems quite available online and in stores in the United States. For twenty some odd US dollars you can get a whisky that provides as much enjoyment as a 100 dollar single malt. Now, it doesn't replace malts, but when tour mood and this whisky align, the result can be magical!

@Nozinan, Chuck Cowdery recently reported that Beam Suntory has decided to postpone its discontinuation of Old Grand-Dad 114. At the end of another year Beam Suntory will re-assess the decision.

chuckcowdery.blogspot.com/2017/02/…

Between the handling of Booker's and the handling of OGD114 there have been some very questionable moves made recently by the management of Beam Suntory.

@Victor It's not surprising. The farther away from the distillery that the suits live (in this case on the other side of the world) the less we can rely on their decisions. I wonder if the people deciding the fate of OGD 114 even like bourbon, or have even tasted OGD 114? It would be like me deciding on whether to discontinue the BTAC ryes or pappy...

In general I don't believe in buying something because of it's "bang for buck". If OGD114 were crap I wouldn't buy it for $5. This is an excellent bourbon. The fact that it can be purchased for $20 in the US is mindboggling. I would never buy it because it is cheap... I would buy it because it is good.

@Nozinan et alii, here is more on the 'preiswert'-ness of Old Grand-Dad 114:

docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/…

This is interesting and useful data on the mark-ups for common barrel-strength American whiskeys.

bourbonr.com/blog/…

This link from Bourbonr blog gives Jim Beam bourbon mashbill and distillation information. It is quite thought provoking to me, in that, if completely accurate, it implies that there are subtle differences in the production process of their different products, and that differences between the products which have identical mashbills are due to more than barrel selection alone.

@OdysseusUnbound @plattvillepeat thanks much for posting "likes" for this Outrageous Old Man review! It was my very first review. In those days, 9 years ago, Connosr didn't have "likes", which came with the re-boot, about 4.5 years later.

I take extreme pride and great pleasure that OGD114 was my very first Connosr review. It is such fun whiskey! A $ 20-30 57% ABV whiskey in 2011, it remains a $ 28-40 57% ABV whiskey today, in 2020.

@Victor, I've been fortunate to have tasted OGD114 from bottles owned by you, @Pudge72, and @Nozinan who also gifted me a bottle. I've not yet had an open bottle og OGD114 on my whiskey shelf. I recently discovered the charms of Old Ezra 7 YO Barrel Proof 117 pf. With the help of @fiddich1980 and @Nozinan I was able to go three deep with backups.

Recently an OGD114 fanboy challenged me to blind taste both of these delicious bourbon expressions and identify them. I accepted the challenge. Both were enjoyable, One was thick, well-rounded, and deliciously sweet. The other was a bit sharper with more oak tannins, and less sweet. I had frequently tapped the newly acquired bottle of Old Ezra and proclaimed it to be the well-rounded and deliciously sweet blind sample. I was wrong. OGD114 was the winner in the blind taste test. At half the price of Old Ezra this OGD114 has lived up to the legend.

You got me hooked on this one many years ago @Victor! Since then, a bottle has constantly been on my shelf.