Age of Old Grand-dad?

[Young Grandson]

Some friends and I were discussing ages of bourbons...Old Grand-dad caused some confusion. Some say 4yrs old or so...I thought it was around 6. We are talking about the 100 proof BIB. Thanks.

[bourbonv]

After the regulations were changed during the Reagan administration, the age of bonded whiskey really became an unknown factor to consumers. It has to be 4 years old and from the same distillery from the same season and bottled at 100 proof still, but no further information is required. To make labeling simple and cheap they put a four year age statement on the label, but that does not mean they can not use older whiskey. If it was not bonded they could have made it mixed years of product, but bonded means all the whiskey is from the same season but the consumer does not know what year that season was in.

From the Old Grand Dad I have lately I suspect you are right that it is six years old. I might even say seven or eight with some bottles I have had lately. It definetly has more barrel flavors than a four year old product generally has in it. When I asked Jerry Dalton about this a year or so ago, he told it was more than 4 years old, but in typical Beam secrecy he would not say how much older.

Mike Veach

[TNbourbon]

...From the Old Grand Dad I have lately I suspect you are right that it is six years old. I might even say seven or eight with some bottles I have had lately...

I've pondered this point on a couple of occasions -- do distilleries sometimes vary the age of their BIBs? I can see an advantage for the distillery -- it's time to bottle some BIB to meet market demand, but we have more 7yo whiskey ready, not six. Let's bottle the 7. On the other hand, that seems like a good way of turning off regular consumers, who can't rely on the product to be the same each time.
Do we know whether or not it happens and, if so, why (and by whom)?

[bourbonv]

Tim,
I know it happens, and much for the reasons you mentioned. Who does it when though are tough questions. I suspect all bonded whiskeys are done that way and if we still had the tax stamp with the dates, we would then know who and when. Without the stamps, there is no way of knowing.

Mike Veach