Thursday, September 3, 2009

The 2009 Old Forester Birthday Bourbon Debuts.

The fall releases of limited edition whiskeys keep coming. (Some of the others are here, here and here.)

Latest is the 2009 edition of Old Forester Birthday Bourbon, unveiled at a press event last night at The Violet Hour in Chicago. Old Forester master distiller Chris Morris walked the guests through a tasting of all three Old Forester expressions, including the new Birthday Bourbon.

Old Forester Birthday Bourbon celebrates the birth of Brown-Forman founder George Garvin Brown on September 2, 1846. It is a special selection of Old Forester barrels chosen by Morris to highlight some aspect of the bourbon palate.

“This year’s vintage release of Old Forester Birthday Bourbon is crafted from a 98 barrel batch,” said Morris. “These barrels were stored in the small warehouse B and larger warehouse J, on their 5th and 8th floors respectively. These upper floor locations exposed the barrels to a great degree of heat during the summer months which resulted in a rich, complex maturation profile.”

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 of production. The result is a one-of-a-kind character and flavor that will never be replicated again. Its unique decanter style glass bottle is a throwback to the late 1800’s when Old Forester was first produced.

Morris selected these barrels because he thinks they show that a 12+ year-old bourbon can have a lot of flavor and barrel character without hitting you over the head with it. He considers this a softer example of what a long-aged bourbon can be.

One nice thing about Old Forester Birthday Bourbon, in this season of special editions that are priced at $90 to $150 or more per bottle, is that the suggested retail price is a mere $39.99.

1 comment:

Wade said...

a mere $39.99? I get your point, but don't start advertising too much.