Caramel | Cinnamon | Black pepper | Light oak | Straightforward

Brown sugar | Caramel | Cinnamon | Peanut brittle | Aged oak | Medium weight

Cinnamon spice | Brown sugar | Underlying nuttiness | Leather | Lingering spice mix

The Old Grand-Dad brand was created by Raymond B. Hayden and named after his grandfather, Meredith Basil Hayden, Sr. The bourbon has been in production since 1882, including during Prohibition, when it was produced by American Medicinal Spirits Co., a pharmaceutical company. The brand has changed hands multiple times since its inception and is now owned by Beam Suntory.

Old Grand-Dad 114 Single Barrel 7 Year was quietly introduced to the market in early 2026. This release is an evolution of the standard batched Old Grand-Dad 114 Bourbon release, which was first released in the early 1980’s at a time when higher proof bourbons were quite rare. Over time, Old Grand-Dad 114 has built a reputation as a strong value in the bourbon market, retailing for around $35 but often found for less. Old Grand-Dad 114 Single Barrel 7 Year shares the same mashbill and overall style; however, it is bottled in single barrel format (which will produce some variation from barrel to barrel) and also carries a 7 year age statement, compared to the original version being a no-age statement (NAS) release. Notably, no barrel identifier is on the bottle, however the lot the single barrel came from is.

The flavor profile on the bottle in review remains very close to the batched version: it’s straightforward with a focus on caramel, cinnamon, brown sugar, and waves of nuttiness in different forms. Other flavors join the mix, but the core base is intact and immediately apparent. As the age is stated on the single barrel, there may be a trend towards heavier oak influence depending on the average age of the batched version, but I would guess that older batched bottles, and many on shelves today, currently trend a bit higher in age. As time progressed, Beam may reserve the higher age barrels for single barrel bottlings at the cost of a lower average age for the batches, but doing a direct comparison of bottles in hand, I could not taste much of a difference.

The biggest question consumers will have is whether the new single barrel, age stated version is worth the extra cost. This new version’s most challenging competitor is itself, or more accurately, its batched counterpart, which is one of the foremost values in bourbon. While the 114 Single Barrel 7 Year’s sip doesn’t quite achieve that same quality-to-value level, it does offer a compelling option in the overall marketplace that I suspect many will initially clamor for. Overall, it’s a welcome evolution of the brand.

The bourbon in review is from Lot No. 001.