Old Forester Birthday Bourbon 2023

A friend took me out for a late birthday dinner and happily, the restaurant had the 2023 edition of the special bourbon on its tasting list. While $40 a pour seems quite high for any drink, considering everything, I don't think it was too bad, especially for this particular bourbon. After all, it was a birthday dinner and the bourbon's name was Birthday Bourbon. Get it? The nose is complex and offered an enticing preview of what was to come. Sweet milk chocolate and cherries start off a full-bodied and sweet aroma, complemented by vanilla wafer cookie. Some tannic oak appears but remains a background note to the sweet, tart, and fruity characteristics. I needed to smell this bourbon multiple times, from different distances from the glass, due to the sheer complexity and goodness wafting out. The palate dials back the sweetness significantly, and while the cherry on the nose was fresh, bright, and vibrant, the cherries on the palate are more stewed with simple syrup. Overall, the flavors become darker but remain rich and complex – brown sugar and caramel blend in at the front of the taste, and just when you thought it would be exclusively a sweet bourbon, tannic charred oak and leather dry out the palate right before the finish. The cherry becomes very subtle toward the finish but is still detectable, along with that tannic oak from the end of the taste and leather. Somewhere between the end of the taste and the finish, sweet and spicy cinnamon becomes noticeable, being more apparent on the finish than at any other point in the tasting. Wow! This was truly one of the most complex, beautiful bourbons I've tasted. It will not be soon forgotten. The only challenge now is finding a taste of it with each new annual release. Oh, the difficulty.

Nose - Immediately, you get red hots. Cinnamon, vanilla, a hint of barrel spice. Caramel pastries, yeast. Typical bakery aromas. Palate - An explosion of flavor. Lots of heat, lots of taste. Starts with a substantial bite of bread that quickly fades into the nose. Red hots, abundant cinnamon and barrel char, with vanilla lingering beneath. Like hot cakes with syrup. This is pleasant. Finish - Cinnamon dominates the finish with more vanilla/caramel.

The aroma is exceptional. A peculiar combination of dark fruit and chocolate, yet also buttery, reminiscent of buttered popcorn. The taste and ending are letdowns. It's thin and brief, not living up to the promise of the scent. This year's batch continues the pattern of letdown for the fourth year running. Consider the 2019 release or older.

Nose: wheat, light caramel & vanilla, grain(?), light oak Body: medium Palate: caramel, vanilla Finish: medium to long, carmally Note: quite light and very drinkable, but not complex or rich. Very one-dimensional. Tasty but not memorable.

On the nose: intense cherry, dark fruits, and oak, with hints of maple. Incredibly smooth, with a full cherry and oak flavor, chocolate-covered cherries, and a maple sugar char finish.

Very smooth from the beginning. A sweeter, dessert-like flavor. A good bourbon, but overpriced. Not 'outstanding' in my view. Glad I had the chance to try it. 4.1