The best $23 Bottle of Bourbon

I've ever had.

So were heading back from my aunts funeral and my step dad asked:

"How much is a good bottle of bourbon?"

"I don't know, thirty, forty dollars maybe."
"I really don't wanna spend that much.
It's for your uncle, he'll drink scotch,
 but he prefers bourbon.
 I'd like to keep something around for him."
'Lets stop in that lil place there in Hardinsburg then, they have a good selection,
it's right on the way and it's cheaper than the place across the bridge.

So we stop.
Looking for inexpensive, but good.

You can laugh all you want.
$23
Bonded.
Bottle in Bond.
Minimum four years old and 100 proof.
(And some other things)
Not a "High Rye" mashbill kinda guy really.
Kinda like the wheaters TBH.
But hey?
For my uncle to have a drink every once in a while
and step-dads buying?
 So?
Good opportunity to try something out that I've always wanted.
And it's reasonably priced. so nobody is getting gouged.

It got like a 3.7 rating out of a 5 BTW.
Does great in blind test etc.

Poured over crushed ice, stirred with a wooden spoon and let sit for 15 minutes.
I was expecting pepperiness up front then really sweet.
It was just...delicious.
Smooth.
Lil sweet at the end maybe.
I did a double take lol.
I looked back at my glass...
like...Really?
That damn good?

A very pleasant surprise and a great story.
Great bottle design.
Thats Basil Hayden on the bottle BTW.
More on him in a bit.
Always wanted to try it.
It's a great value for the money.
I'd take it over Wild Turkey 101 or Jim Beam white label any day.
Lots of good reviews on the 114 proof which is definitely next on the list..

Beam product.
Not normally a big fan.
Got burned out on Booker's etc.
Old Grand Dad used to be an Old National Distilleries product
along with Old Crow, Old Overholt and Old Taylor.

When Bean bought National distilleries it changed the Old Crow, Old Overholt and Old Taylor's mashbills to Beams own. Beam chose, and wisely I might add, to leave Old Grand Dad's mashbill alone.

The brand was created by Raymond B. Hayden and was named after his Grandfather Basil Hayden a well known distiller in his own time. Thats him on the 114 bottle as well.

Basil Hayden moved to KY from Maryland and for one reason or another, either that was the way they did it in Maryland, or thats all he had to work with, his mashbill was considerably higher in Rye content than his contemporaries. His grandson's bourbon (Old Grand Dad) stays faithful to a high rye recipe in tribute.

Basil Hayden is itself  a Beam whiskey.

Basil Haydens

It's said to be an older version of Old Grand Dad.
A buddy of mine had some while back.
He liked it, said it was good.


Oh.
And it has a cork in it.
 :-).

Big plus in my book.
Cork in a whiskey bottle
:-).
I've paid more for bottles that should have had them in them and didn't.
But a $23 bottle of four year old 100 proof KY Bourbon with a cork in it?
Oh hell yeah.

Sip it over ice
It won't disappoint.

In fact and I've said this before, if it's Bonded or bottled in bond?
And made in KY?
You're not gonna go wrong.
And here is proof of that.

BTW
Theres this place in Indiana.
Called MPG.

MGP of Indiana

"Altogether, MGP is the source of beverage spirits sold under about 50 different brand names, although these are often sold misleadingly by their bottlers as distinctive products with minimal disclosure of the actual source of the spirits."

They make bourbon, whiskeys etc, sell it to these cash cowboys who slap up a still and add some folklore, and then they try and age an Indiana spriit and sell it for a premium price.

Well fuck that.

I'd be ashamed to be from KY and be unknowingly drinking a Indiana product.
 Let alone be wasting money foolishly on an inferior product.
I'll gladly stick to my $23 bottle that I know was made right down the road thank you very much.

I love you Lucy.

Old Grand Dad