Question re Bonded Old Gran-dad

[Gillman]

Recently I found a Bonded Gran-dad with the "non-years" green paper seal, i.e., the one issued at the end of the stamp era. The bottle shows the new (current) label design but states the whiskey was distilled and bottled by "The Old Gran-Dad Distillery Co., Frankfort, KY - DSP Ky. 14". No reference to Clermont anywhere.

On the base is embossed a 92 and in a corner of the front label, F-91. Clearly the label was printed in 1991 and the bottle was made in 1992.

This being all Frankfort manufacture, it must have been made in the last year before the purchase by Beam. Yet it has the new labeling associated with the later Beam-made product. Were many of these made? The taste is old school ND though.

Gary

[Gillman]

By the way doing some research recently I found that "Frankfort", the city in Kentucky, derives from Frank's Ford, not from a German name. It sounds Germanic, but isn't.

Gary

[cowdery]

Beam probably would have used up labels, especially at Frankfort where they were bottling whiskey distilled and aged there, or at least aged there, for several years after the 1987 acquisition, maybe even longer than the usual four or five years.

I don't know this for a fact, but I theorize that Grand-Dad was always made at Grand-Dad, i.e., Frankfort DSP-14, and not at Old Crow, where they were making everything else. Since they were running both plants on very reduced schedules in the years leading up to the sale, you might think they would consolidate at one, but perhaps that wasn't practical. There is evidence that they also made their ryes exclusively at Frankfort. Frankfort was smaller but more modern, 'more modern' mainly meaning it was easier to switch between recipes there.