By Richard Thomas
Score: A-
(Credit score: Suntory International Spirits)
For a very long time, the one model within the Jim Beam portfolio that was extra uncared for than Previous Grand-Dad was Previous Overholt. The one two expressions within the line had been the namesake commonplace and Previous Grand-Dad 114, a favourite price range purchase amongst followers of excessive rye bourbon. What’s extra, Previous Grand-Dad suffered the indignity of seeing its proof reduce from 86 to 80 in 2013. As a rule, the corporate has most popular to make use of its excessive rye bourbon inventory and advertising muscle to construct up Basil Hayden.
However a couple of years in the past, Beam launched Previous Grand-Dad Bonded, and now they’ve introduced out this new expression that sits astride the road separating the oldest center aged whiskeys from the really ultra-aged stuff. Previous Grand-Dad and Previous Grand-Dad Bonded are two whiskeys we now have not written up for The Whiskey Reviewer but, so I’m happy to not let this 16 12 months outdated model get away.
Previous Grand-Dad and Basil Hayden are usually not intertwined by chance. The model was created by Raymond B. Hayden within the 1840s, dubbed after his grandfather, who was the precise Basil Hayden. On the flip of the twentieth Century, the model was acquired by the Wathens (the Wathen-Medley household nonetheless exists and makes Wathen Single Barrel) earlier than touchdown with the nefarious Whiskey Belief that ultimately turned much less nefarious and often known as Nationwide Distillers, so it was nonetheless in manufacturing throughout Prohibition. Within the late twentieth Century, that was bought to Fortune Manufacturers, which was later cut up off into Fortune Manufacturers and Beam, Inc., with the later taking the conglomerate’s booze companies.
So, Previous Grand-Dad got here into the palms of Jim Beam as a part of the industry-wide consolidation throughout its nadir within the Eighties. It’s the model with the longest and finest affiliation with Clermont’s “excessive rye” bourbon mash of 63% corn, 27% rye and 10% corn, and that mash invoice was created with Previous Grand-Dad in thoughts, mirroring the recipe that got here with the model.
Jim Beam’s official phrase is that Previous Grand-Dad 16 Yr Previous is a restricted launch, solely out there in choose markets and as a one-time solely bottling. It was bottled at 100 proof, however that it isn’t a bonded launch means that 16 years outdated is simply the youngest whiskey concerned — there may be most likely a smattering of one thing older in there. In spite of everything, if it had been all 16 years outdated, then it will come from the identical distilling season and the identical distillery, so there can be no bar on calling it bonded. I doubt the advertising guys would let that nugget slip.
The Bourbon
The pour has a beautiful reddened amber look to it. The nostril smacked of scrumptious, wealthy mixture of dried apricots and dried pink berries, with a observe of cookie spices plus notably earthy examples of caramel and nougat, so it was one thing like a sweet. Or can be like a sweet, had been it not for the sliver of musty outdated oak in there.
The flavour runs with the fruitiness from the nostril, taking it into the vein of strawberry and cranberry syrup. Accent that with a present of dry, peppery wooden, a touch of cookie spices and a dollop of vanilla. The end ran silky candy with cookie spices (once more), earlier than turning sharply right into a mildly astringent place.
The trip with my pattern of Previous Grand-Dad 16 was a beautiful one. Between the (at the moment) distinctive nature of the expression, it’s contribution to reviving the Previous Grand-Dad identify and the truth that it was a beautiful pour, I believe it’s fairly pretty priced (see beneath).
The Worth
A bottle of Previous Grand-Dad 16 is meant to go for $195. There are retailers who’re really promoting it for that, and if you’ll find one I endorse it. Nevertheless, some retailers have marked this up so far as $250, and for that worth I might take a cross.
