Old Grand-Dad is a brand of bourbon whiskey distilled at the Jim Beam Plant in Clermont, Kentucky. The brand was created by Raymond B. Hayden and named after his grandfather Meredith Basil Hayden Sr., who was a well known distiller during his lifetime. A fanciful portrait of Hayden Sr. is depicted on the front of each bottle. Today, it is owned and produced by Beam Suntory. , Old Grand-Dad and Old Overholt – both of which are Beam Suntory brands – are marketed together as "The Olds". History The Hayden family's first commercial distillery was created in 1840, and the whiskey has been in production since that time despite several changes of ownership. In 1899, Old Grand-Dad was sold to the Wathen family, whose broad interests in the whiskey business later formed the American Medicinal Spirits Company and the foundations of National Distillers Group. During prohibition, the company produced "medicinal whiskey" for sick, blind, and lame patients. National Distillers had facilities in Cincinnati, Ohio, Frankfort, Kentucky and Louisville, KY., and also produced Old Crow, Old Overholt and Old Taylor. In 1987, National Distillers Group sold the spirits business to the Fortune Brands holding company, which became Beam Inc. Versions Old Grand-Dad remains one of the USA’s ten best-selling straight whiskeys. It comes in three different bottling proofs: 80 proof, 100 proof Bottled In Bond, and 114 Barrel Proof in a short-height bottle gift box package. In 2013 the lower proof offering went from 86 proof to 80 proof. Since 1992 Beam has also marketed another brand of Kentucky bourbon, Basil Hayden's, named after the same person. Reviews Food critic Morgan Murphy said "The sweet corn of this whiskey is hot on the lips but has a mild finish of vanilla and baking spices." References in media In Travels with Charley, John Steinbeck's 1961 account of a road-trip across America, he stocks Old Grand-Dad on his truck and regularly offers "a dollop" to people he meets. Old Grand-Dad is featured prominently in the opening scenes of the film Bad Santa and in the Nick Stefanos novels by George P. Pelecanos, as well as in John Hawkes's classic novel Second Skin. Former Pennsylvania State University football coach Joe Paterno's son suggested that his father enjoyed Old Grand-Dad on the rocks. The fictional character Morgan Kane, from the book series of the same name, always drank Old Grand-Dad if it was available and