Zoom Tasting - Old Forester Expressions

I was texting with Dan and Trevor a week or so ago when the conversation ended up being about what we were all pouring that evening. Dan and I had both decided on Lagavulin 16, while Trevor was finishing some samples from a Whiskey University class that he and Dan take on Tuesday evenings. As it turns out, one of the samples that Trevor was finishing was the Old Forester 1920. Dan and Trevor also mentioned how much they enjoyed the 1920, would be permanently adding it to their shelves, and would like to do an Old Forester whiskey flight.

Now, with all of that said, I was starting to wonder if they somehow knew about my selections for our upcoming virtual tasting that I hosted last Thursday. Before deciding on my samples, I had a look at the lists of what each of them have on their shelves and what they have on their wish lists. We all keep and share these lists, as they can be helpful in keeping each other aware of what's available while individually shopping for our own collections.

My choices for our last tasting were all Old Forester labels. They were the Original (1870), the Prohibition (1920), and The Statesman. As it turns out, they really didn't know what I had planned; and they got the flight of Old Forester that they'd mentioned the week before our last tasting.

Old Forester Tasting Notes

1870: Named for the year that George Gavin Brown began batching whiskey from three separate distilleries which were: Atherton in Bardstown, Mattingly in Marion, and Mellwood in Louisville.

• Nose: fruity with floral notes, vanilla, caramel, and oak
• Palate: mingling fruit flavors, sweetness from caramel, and an agreeable amount of oak
• Finish: light body and thin mouthfeel; sweetness that trails off as it finishes with baking spices and a light amount of oak

1920: This prohibition style has a bit of a kick at 115 Proof. Brown-Forman was one of only distilleries given permits to bottle bourbon for medicinal purposes during prohibition

• Nose: Dark fruit, burnt brown sugar, chocolate, a hint of bananas, and a hint of ethanol
• Palate: bold and immediately likeable with a barrel char that plays against the sweetness of caramel and crème brulee; smokiness, nuttiness and a hint of coffee
• Finish: a pop of allspice and black pepper that leaves a long lingering finish without further introduction of flavor.

Statesman: This selection was originally produced as a tie-in with the 2017 movie, Kingsman.

• Nose: bright and sweet aroma with fusions of cherry, brown sugar, vanilla, sugar cookie, and seasoned oak.
• Palate: cherry, confectioners sugar, light banana, and caramel
• Finish: heat gently ramps up, finishing with highlights of cinnamon and oak

We had a good evening and were happy to have Trevor's friend and her husband join us. We ended the evening by sharing the Four Roses Single Barrel that we all have in our collections.