Old Forester Birthday Bourbon Bonanza

The Birthday Bonanza Begins!  

Our dedicated fans may remember that we're big fans of Old Forester Birthday Bourbon.  As a matter of fact we were sitting on a shelf of it at SmokyBeast headquarters...

Old Forester Birthday Bourbon, or OFBB for whiskey geeks, is a yearly release from Brown Forman dedicated to its original founder George Gavin Brown.  You can read all about George and the history of the brand in our previous review.  It's distilled on George's birthday, September 1st, and bottled at 12 Years old at 97 proof.  Each year comes in a nifty little squat bottle with a different color tax strip and label.

While these little guys did look awful pretty on the shelf, whisky is meant to be drunk not admired, so we figured why not pop them all at once?  Here we go starting off with the top left, 2006 bottle.

Tasting Notes

Nose: Cherry pie.  We don't think we've ever used that exact term before, but yes this is sweet cherry pie! (queue Warrant hair rock).  After that there are walnuts, and some "men's club leather".  Good nose.

Palate/finish: Warm and chewy with cinnamon (Red Hot candies?).  There's a healthy dose of oak and a nice sweet molasses finish.

Overall: This one is a tad harsh for 97 proof, but it does have a lot of character, richness, a little sweet, and a lot of wood.  We would give this one an 85, or a solid SmokyBeast "B".  It's a real whiskey drinkers' whiskey and not difficult to polish off in an evening along with some good conversation and a bbq rib or ten.

Tune in tomorrow for OFBB07!

Cheers/SB