Taste Test: Old Forester’s 2024 Birthday Bourbon Doesn’t Live Up to Its Unicorn Status
For many people, the first sign of fall comes when the light starts to change, an ethereal shift that begins well before the temperature drops. But for whiskey drinkers, the first sign of the approaching autumn is when brands start announcing annual unicorn releases like Pappy Van Winkle, the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection, and Old Forester’s Birthday Bourbon. That last bottle just came out (sort of, more on this later), and I got an early taste. It’s a very good bourbon, but perhaps you would be better off sticking with the core Old Forester lineup instead.
There are a few reasons for this. First of all, those other whiskeys are fantastic, including expressions like 1920 Prohibition Style, President’s Choice, 1897 Bottled in Bond, and any entry in the 117 Series. While some are a bit harder to find (and more expensive) than others, overall these are relatively easy to get ahold of. Birthday Bourbon, on the other hand, can initially only be procured if you signed up on the Old Forester website and were lucky enough to win the opportunity to buy a bottle, which must be picked up at the distillery in Louisville. After that, there will be additional opportunities to purchase “on random days and at random times,” according to the distillery, and of course there’s the always (un)reliable secondary market. This all feels like more trouble than it’s worth.
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Now, I really enjoyed this year’s release of Birthday Bourbon. The palate is full of notes of fresh berries, chocolate, caramel, spiced apple, honeycomb, Earl Grey tea, and a hint of prune. I also liked the whiskey’s strong 107 proof, the highest at which it’s ever been bottled (beating out 2019’s 105 proof). The bourbon is 12 years old and it wears that age well, even if that’s on the higher end of the bourbon barrel lifespan. At its core, this is a really tasty bourbon that most people would think was a very good deal… if there weren’t so many hoops to jump through to get a bottle.
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How this year’s release will fare on the secondary remains to be seen. Past expressions have either skyrocketed well beyond the $200 asking price (which has crept up over the years) or remained somewhere close to that, depending on the vintage. Even $200 seems pretty steep for a 12-year-old bourbon, but that’s the world we live in today, like it or not. You might also be turned off after hearing the news that parent company Brown-Forman recently discontinued its DEI initiatives, a move that seems odd considering it was only a few years ago that the company acknowledged that Nathan “Nearest” Green was the enslaved man who taught Jack Daniel how to make whiskey. (I reached out to Brown-Forman PR for comment, and received the following: “We launched our diversity and inclusion strategy in 2019. Since then, the world has evolved, our business has changed, and the legal and external landscape has shifted dramatically, particularly within the United States. With these new dynamics at play, Brown-Forman adjusted its work to ensure it continues to drive our business results while appropriately recognizing the current environment in which we find ourselves.”)
On the other hand, politics might not influence your decision to buy a bottle of Birthday Bourbon at all, and that’s also an understandable position to take. So let’s cut to the chase: In this writer’s opinion, the 2024 edition of Birthday Bourbon is a solid whiskey, and maybe one of the better releases in recent years. Still, I’m still not sure if it’s worth putting the time, effort, and money into hunting down a bottle when there are so many other expressions from the very same distillery/brand that are just as good, if not better.
Score: 87
100 Worth trading your first born for
95 – 99 In the Pantheon: A trophy for the cabinet
90 – 94 Great: An excited nod from friends when you pour them a dram
85 – 89 Very Good: Delicious enough to buy, but not quite special enough to chase on the secondary market
80 – 84 Good: More of your everyday drinker, solid and reliable
Below 80 It’s alright: Honestly, we probably won’t waste your time and ours with this
Every week Jonah Flicker tastes the most buzzworthy and interesting whiskeys in the world. Check back each Friday for his latest review.
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