Old Grand Dad Whiskey

Originated by

Raymond B. Hayden

Basil Hayden, Sr. left Maryland in 1785 and made his way to Kentucky. He settled in Nelson County, just outside of Bardstown. One of the first things he did after getting his homestead setup was to build a distillery. It was well known that Hayden had come from a long line of "whiskey people." This distillery was set up probably in 1796. Of course in the years to come Bardstown was to become famous for its many distilleries and the area is still known as the Bourbon Capital of America. Raymond B. Hayden was the Son of Lewis Hayden and Mary Dant, and was the grandson of Basil Hayden, Sr.

The following account by F. L. "Zig" Hayden was given to my cousin Frank Hayden and passed on to me.

The Story On Old Grand Dad Goes Like This

It harkens back to about 1840, to Hobbs Station, Kentucky where R. B. Hayden had a modern distillery for that day in an ideal location. The scenery nearby was said to be imposing and grand. There were two huge springs, one flowing 200,000 gallons a day, the other 300,000. There was a bright creek hard by with lots of song and gurgles of pure limestone water-- ah, the limestone water!

Hayden had fine warehouses, high and dry and well ventilated so that the good Kentucky climate could blow through rain or shine, summer or winter. Hayden himself, the founder of the distillery, came from a long line of whiskey people. His grandfather first made whiskey in 1796 Hayden's father took up stirring the mash tubs in 1819. A man by the name of F. L. Ferriell came in with Hayden, then, and with this fresh capital they put up a new distillery, "which is a model one in every way," our old man of the Oliver typewriter tells us. "The distillery proper is built five feet above the ground and the floor is of solid pine wood." This would have to be hauled in by ox wagon from a far piece in 1840, for there was no pine in Kentucky to make a pitch floor. "There is not a particle of dirt or filth to be seen." A paling fence was built around the foundation to keep the hogs from shacking up under the joint in the winter time. Moreover, the drainage was downhill from the cattle feeding pens and troughs, and so cow manures, both hard and soft, did not get into the mash tube. In the beginning, Hayden gristed 100 bushels of grains, which would make about 10 barrels a day. He operated mostly from October till April or May, when the temperatures could be better controlled. He made both bourbon and rye whiskies.

The legend goes that with all this modern equipment, and a clean house free of manure, Hayden needed a good brand name for the new whiskey. In those days the only family portraits were done by gifted sign painters traveling through the country in horse and buggy and picture enlarging agents huckstering the same way, taking up tintypes and daguerreotypes to enlarge into crayon portraits. Hayden had a crayon enlargement of his granddaddy, a rather elegant old person who wore a boiled shirt, black tie, white stock of hair, and a genial bourbon smile. It took a few midnight prayers for the grand boy to fall on this fine old gentleman for his brand label, and the affectionate "Old Grand-dad." The whiskey he and Ferriell began barreling under this name, together with the "Handmade Sour-Mash" description, soon caught the taste on Kentucky's drinkers. Soon the warehouses were stacked with 7000 barrels and Hayden and Ferriell bought fine carriages to take their families to church Sundays, and pay the preacher.

The brand name lived on through the years, surviving many changes of management of the company, even, during the years of prohibition, being owned by the American Medicinal Sprits Company, an offshoot of the National Distillery, which produced medicinal whiskey for the lame, hale and blind during the drought of national dustiness. After repeal, National came out from behind the woodpile where it had stayed hidden and jumped in with both feet to promote Old Grand Dad, with the result that today it still stands high in the ranking of the ten best sellers of straight whiskies.