Good bourbon that has changed the least over the years?

[BigBoldBully]

Not having access to any bottles more than a few years old, and having gone big into bourbon only fairly recently, I frequently wonder which (if any) bourbons that are still being produced are virtually the same as they have been for decades.

I understand that WT products have changed quite a bit, OGD is not the same as when made by ND, and that among other things the rash of age reductions and dropping of age statements has often coincided with changes to the juice. Heck, seems like every time I find something I like, sooner or later I read about how it used to be a lot better.

So for those of you who have been drinking the same brands for a long time, or have had the opportunity of trying old specimens next to today’s iterations, are any such liquid time machines still being made?

[squire]

Two immediately come to mind, Old Forester and Old Grand Dad, both 100 proof. Forester because the Brown family who first developed the brand in the early 1870s still control the company and Grand Dad because Beam had the presence of mind to continue to use both the National Distiller's mash bill and yeast so the whisky remains largely unchanged.

[tmckenzie]

No, Every bourbon has changed. But George Dickel has changed very little over the years. I think Chuck said recently they are still manually operated. That makes a hell of a difference. I have samples going back to the mid 60s, which would have been some of the first juice they made all the way up to the current version. It has lightened a touch, but overall, it tastes a good as it always has.

[unclebunk]

I'm sure they've all changed to some degree. But I take comfort in knowing that every time I grab a bottle of VOB BIB, it's always going to taste great and that's been the case for many years now.

[squire]

I left Barton off my first list because I'm still irritated they dropped the 8 year age statement off their BIB. Same flavor profile though, or at least has been for the last 40 years or so.

[Brisko]

I left Barton off my first list because I'm still irritated they dropped the 8 year age statement off their BIB. Same flavor profile though, or at least has been for the last 40 years or so.

When did they do that, squire?

[squire]

Can't rightly say Brisko. It was a good while back but I tend to hold a grudge over such things.

[Flyfish]

All of us SBers of a certain age are inclined to lament the decline in the quality of (fill in the blank). Even Homer, in The Iliad and The Odyssey, said that nothing was as good as it was back in the day. My recollection of stuff I tasted 45 or 50 years ago is not all that reliable. Nor can I tell if it is the bourbon that evolved or my palate. What I'm drinking today is still pretty damn good. If I came across a dusty, I might buy it but I am not the sort to spend every weekend looking for it. And, for all the newbies out there, these are the Good Old Days.

[Brisko]

I don't blame you a bit, was just curious as to how long it had been.