Bourbon Reviews:




Bottling NameOld Forester Birthday Bourbon 2008
Bottled ByBrown-Forman Distillers Company Louisville,Ky
TypeKentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Alcohol content94 Proof
Availability US: Available Japan: Unknown Duty Free: Unknown Europe: Unknown
Age13
Views (since 20080612) 12122
Bottling Info



Review from Mike (BourbonEnthusiast Review ID 1607, Created:20090617215309, Updated:20090617223430) View discussion on this review.
Purchased at:
Nose:Leather, intense citrus fruit, pecans, dry oak, mint, light vanilla, rye, tobacco, chocolate (who can say?), a faint nod toward cognac and distilled grapes. Not there are rich sweetness or creamy barrel overtones, replaced IMO, by the subtleties of 13 years in the barrel. A wonderfully intrigueing and mysteriously complex nose that is just exceptional. Kudos to Chris Morris on this one! Extraordinarily seductive in like manner to a beautiful and sensuous woman...........mature, self-confident, in complete control.............more than you can handle and you know it..........but, leave...........never! It controls you and you give yourself over because you recognize the presence of something from somewhere else!
Taste:Equal to the nose in its subtlety and complex tastes. Like the nose, it does not rely on sweetness or rich viscosity to achieve its aims. It seeps into your bourbon being by degrees, giving you an education (if you are willing) like few bourbons can (and all for about $30). So many tastes abound that you are hard pressed to locate them. Is that tobacco, or chocolate? is it maple sugar, or caramel? What is that taste I know but can't find in my memory module? I am wonderfully confused..........loving every moment.
Finish:Lingering, with almost perfect balance. Not too soft, not too hard, not too spicy, not too short. Flavors stay, keeping that same balance that has been from front to back, beginning to end.
Overall:Near bourbon perfection. Better than most of its drinkers (including me) can know. Few drinkers are up to the quality of this bourbon.............I am not. Many folks debunk Chris Morris' experiments with bourbon and whiskey, I think he is a genius at his craft! A reaffirmation of what is special about bourbon and about being human!

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Review from bunghole (BourbonEnthusiast Review ID 1606, Created:20090617114319, Updated:20090617114533) View discussion on this review.
Purchased at:Gift from Mike of Georgia
Purchased for:Brotherhood.
Info on this bottle:62 barrel batch filled and entered on the 6th floor of Warehouse H on Sept. 6, 1995
Nose:Color is a deep mahogany hued amber. Viscosity in the Glencairn glass is thick and syrupy.

The nose is very complex and the aromas are well amalgamated. Dark chocolate; raisins, some subtile coconut, and a little caramel.
Taste:It's CANDY! Dark choclate covered Raisinettes, and a Peter-Paul Mounds bar. Some subdued oak in back.
Finish:Long and pleasant. A bit of apple at first, then turns spicey fading out to reveal some lowkey mint that was most likely in hiding all along. Oak goes along for the ride, but stays in the back seat.
Overall:I really wrestled with this bourbon for a good four different sittings. Yes I liked it very much right away, and yelled It's CANDY! with great glee. I enjoyed another pour, but took no notes. The next day = three pours and a few notes. I resisted mightily looking at Chris Morris's tasting notes in the hangtag. Last night = two pours. Raisinettes and Mounds bars make it to the notepad. Oak is a given entity.
Today = three pours, and as I start to write I finally succumbed to the temptation, and looked at the tasting notes in the hangtag. That is all you really need to know.

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Review from Mike (BourbonEnthusiast Review ID 1588, Created:20090530212157)
Purchased at:Sigman Bottle Shop, Conyers, GA
Purchased for:$30
Nose:Earthy and nutty openers that get your attention and create a lot of interest. Some leather and ripe fruit emerge to offer a bit of sweetness. The alcohol stays suitably in the background until mint and nutmeg sally forth to play. At last vanilla and whiffs of maple syrup demonstrate for the fun of it. Complex, evolving, and interesting!
Taste:Warm, spicy, with a sublety that owes a lot to its 13 years in the barrel. The effects of well done aging put a stamp on this bourbon with the flavors so well integrated and all edges softened and rounded.
Finish:Long lasting and memorable.
Overall:Robust, interesting, and worthy of more than one review to do it justice................too complex for a single sitting evaluation.

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Review from Dump Bucket (BourbonEnthusiast Review ID 1481, Created:20090209220050, Updated:20090518124843) View discussion on this review.
Purchased at:50 ml from sourmash
Info on this bottle:2008 version.
Nose:Pleasant nose. Reminds me a lot of the WT old # 8 from 1997 that I have. Some sweet, some rye, some youth and a little kitchen sink (citrus, vanilla, bacon, floral, etc)
Taste:More rye here than in the past. No alc burn to talk of, something is there, but I think it is the rye more than the alc.
Finish:Rye, a little cream that goes to leather and rye again. The rye is the main piece in this flavor puzzle.
Overall:This tastes a lot like I expected it to based on some of the others high reviews that lean towards a rye more.

I need to revisit this in the future a few times to make sure I am tasting what I am.

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Review from bourbonv (BourbonEnthusiast Review ID 1426, Created:20090115184911, Updated:20090518125022) View discussion on this review.
Purchased at:Gift from Chris Morris
Info on this bottle:2008 Birthday Bourbon
Nose:Tasted in a Glencairn Glass. Fruits and caramel - lots of fruit. There is a citrus aroma that might be a little floral - like orange blossoms, but there is also a hint of real ripe apple or pear. Caramel and oak with a bit of tobacco -cigar with a bit of spice, not sweet pipe tobacco in the background.
Taste:The citrus fruit is strong and that spicy aroma turns from tobacco to some nice sweet spice with a hint of peppery spice towards the finish. The caramel and vanilla flavors make this into almost a candy-like flavor at first, but then the finish kicks in.
Finish:Long and wonderful. There is the fruit and caramel at first then the oak brings a touch of dryness allowing the pepper spice come through until they all seem to meld into a great finish that is balanced and long.
Overall:I like this year's version of the birthday bourbon quite a bit. I think it may come to be my favorite version so far. It is fruity and mature without getting too woody and astringent. It does an excellent job bringing out the citrus fruit that I found in the Repeal Old Forester. It does make me wonder what this would be like at 100 proof.

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