So, Robert (Member #5) called the other night. He said he wanted to swing by the house because he had a whiskey he wanted me to try. NOTE: My door is always open to friends with whiskey (insert laughter here).
When he arrived he showed me his most recent purchase….Old Grand-Dad 114. Huh? I am very familiar with the regular bottling of Old Grand-Dad…..it can be found on the lowest shelf of your local grocery store for $9. I would not even be surprised if it came in a plastic bottle.
Robert said he paid about $25 for this and it was “barrel strength”. He had to give it a try. And, because I am a big fan of whiskey, so did I.
The first smell gave hints of rye. The first sip confirmed the rye….and the alcohol level (the “114” is the proof). We also found it to be very spicy. The term I used was, “There’s a lot going on here”. It was actually better than I expected. With each sip I found myself searching the spiciness for any specific taste. Vanilla came through next. Additionally, although rye whiskies are not among my favorite, this one had just the right amount for me.
Without going into a lengthy dissertation of the drink I will simply say that if you like bourbon you will like this.
There was one problem. Last September a few of us went to Bourbonfest. While there we toured the Jim Beam Distillery and could not have been any more disappointed. Being the largest bourbon distiller in the world I expected they would treat their visitors better. The tour consisted of a video then the gift shop. At the time we decided to boycott all Jim Beam products until they fixed this. (Their $18 million dollar visitors center was on the drawing board).
So, you guessed it…..Jim Beam owns and produces the Old Grand-Dad line. Oh well, one has to be flexible.