Old Grand-Dad Released a New 7-Year Bottled-in-Bond Bourbon
Over the past few years, the James B. Beam Distilling Co. (the home of Jim Beam bourbon) has been giving some of its under-appreciated, bottom-shelf whiskeys some well deserved upgrades. That started with Old Overholt rye and continued with Old Grand-Dad, one of the distillery’s high-rye mashbill bourbons, which just announced the second release of its 7-Year Bottled-in-Bond expression.
Old Grand-Dad is a label with a long history, having first appeared back in 1882. More than a century later, Beam Inc., as the company was known at the time (it’s now Suntory Global Spirits), would acquire the brand along with Old Crow and Old Overholt (the three Olds). The Old Grand-Dad lineup consists of high-rye bourbon (it’s made from the same mashbill as Basil Hayden) that is bottled at 80 proof, 114 proof, and a 100-proof bottled-in-bond expression that is a few years younger than this release. In 2024, the brand expanded to include an excellent 16-year-old bourbon also bottled at 100 proof. And more recently, a 114-proof single-barrel bourbon aged for seven years was unveiled, another new and welcome addition to the portfolio.
This batch of bourbon is aged for the same length of time as that new 114 proof version, but bottled at a lower 100 proof and not as a single-barrel expression. As a reminder, the term bottled-in-bond means that the whiskey must be at least 4 years old, exactly 100 proof, aged in federally bonded warehouses, and the product of one distillery and one distillation season. In this case, that season was the fall of 2018. That last guideline might be the most interesting and informative detail about this or any bottled-in-bond whiskey. Most releases consists of blends of barrels that have been distilled during different seasons or even years—remember, the age statement must indicate the youngest whiskey in the blend, so a bottle of 7-year-old bourbon could contain whiskey aged for upwards of a decade, but it can’t be labeled as such. That makes the bottled-in-bond designation is as close to a vintage indicator in whiskey as you can get.
We didn’t get to try this new whiskey as of yet, but presumably it’s going to be pretty close to the last year’s release, although not exactly the same given the difference in year and distillation season (according to a rep for the brand, the point is maintain a consistent bonded profile year after year). The official tasting notes describe aromas of caramel and vanilla on the nose, followed by sweet caramel, charred oak, and more vanilla on the palate, ending with a long, velvety caramel finish. Old Grand-Dad 7-Year Bottled-In-Bond is available starting this month at liquor stores around the country (SRP $40).
