Old Forester Birthday Bourbon
Old Forester, the only bourbon produced before, during and after Prohibition, has just issued its annual Birthday Bourbon (above) in honor of founder George Garvin Brown. This year's edition is crafted from a 62 barrel batch that was distilled and barreled in the late summer of 1995. Chris Morris, master distiller of Old Forester, notes that the barrels were then stored on an upper floor of the warehouse in Kentucky, which builds heat in the summer months "ensuring a robust, complex barrel character will develop."
The result, Morris says, is a taste profile that is "much more chewy in terms of rich fruit and caramel character than the 2007 and 2006 releases." Unlike the standard Old Forester, which is a blend of whisky from several different years, Birthday Bourbon is a vintage-dated bourbon, hand-selected by Morris from one specific day. The result is a "one-of-a-kind character and flavor that will never be replicated again," the distillery declares. Its unique decanter style glass bottle is a throwback to the late 1800's.
