Bourbon Reviews:




Bottling NameOld Forester Birthday Bourbon 2007
Bottled ByBrown-Forman Distillers Company Louisville,Ky
TypeKentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Alcohol content96 Proof
Availability US: Available Japan: Not Available Duty Free: Not Available Europe: Not Available
Age13
Views (since 20080612) 18288
Bottling InfoInformation courtesy of Old Forester's Website: Old Forester Birthday Bourbon???

Vintage 1994 Spring Season
Release date: Saturday, September 2, 2007
96 proof
Fewer than 8,500 bottles produced
This year marks the sixth release of Old Forester Birthday Bourbon. This expression is chosen annually as a way of honoring the birthday of George Garvin Brown, a bourbon industry pioneer and our founder. Unique to any other release, this vintage strikes a balance between the previous two: 2005 was heavy in cinnamon spice while 2006 had a pronounced mint note. With the 2007 vintage, a mint note cools the warm cinnamon spice.
According to Old Forester Master Distiller Chris Morris, the 2007 vintage of Old Forester Birthday Bourbon is ???once again unique, as a vintage should be.??? Morris states that the bourbon ???exhibits a complex spice character with distinct cinnamon and mint notes,??? offers a taste that is ???full-bodied and complex,??? and a finish that is ???both warming and cooling at the same time.???

Unlike the classic Old Forester, which is a blend of whisky from several different years, Old Forester Birthday Bourbon is a vintage-dated bourbon, hand-selected by Morris from one specific day. The result is a one-of-a-kind character and flavor that will never be replicated again. Its unique decanter-style glass bottle is a throwback to the late 1800s when Old Forester was first produced.

You???ll find the nose of this rich brownish-orange bourbon to be sweet with rich dollops of caramel and vanilla like that of a cinnamon-raisin bun. Sharp cinnamon is cooled by a hint of mint as the bourbon opens up. The taste is a balance of dark caramel and rich vanilla oak that coats a ripe apple character. And the finish is warm, long and very clean.



Review from BuffaloBill (BourbonEnthusiast Review ID 1495, Created:20090220183716)
Purchased at:MA
Purchased for:(regardless)
Info on this bottle:OFBB 2007
Nose:I'm with Emerald on this one. It shows some WT characteristics after the fact... (good call) Good Bubble Gum off the top... and this has been opened for about 5 months, one/quarter down. Bubble gum & rye. Some flowers, violets?
Taste:Rockin' juice, wow. Bright. Layered. Mottled. Complex notes... brown sugar, a slight molasses. Almonds. Sugar coated almonds. Almond paste. Rare dried fruit. Apricot. Nutty. And more nutty. The slightest chocolate accent, due to the fruit and nuts. Like a Fruit & Nut Cadbury bar. Dried cranberry and cherries come straight through.
Finish:Sugar water, brown sugar, allspice, and spicy warmth. Long! Clean and semi-dry.
Overall:Chris Morris? Keep on Keepin' it On!~

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Review from BuffaloBill (BourbonEnthusiast Review ID 1340, Created:20081102141902)
Purchased at:Western MA
Purchased for:$40
Info on this bottle:OFBB Spring 1994 (2007)
Nose:Hazelnuts are the predominant note one month after opening. Hazelnuts and tea, with an underlying note of caraway and vanilla. A full of assortment of fruit; including apples, pears, mango, kiwi, a slight banana note (more like Star Fruit), fine caramel wafts over the top alongside of ripe oranges and orange peel. It's a cornucopia of delights... citrus notes too.
Taste:Earl Grey Tea. Lemon & Rye. The residual sugars morph to a Turkish Delight.
Finish:Medium to long. Danish pastry moving to a semi-dry close. Warms the upper lip and palette.
Overall:A+ Bourbon.

BB

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Review from Mike (BourbonEnthusiast Review ID 1268, Created:20080903184804)
Purchased at:
Nose:Vanilla, oak, and rye step right up along with a touch of tobacco. Complex and more assertive than the 2004 expression of Birthday Bourbon I have also sampled (and reviewed) recently.
Taste:Deep sweetness that holds through the rye and oak that follow. Rich and creamy in the way that the best bourbons are. Wonderful balance that compliments the master distiller's skills!
Finish:Not long, but not too short either. Of a piece with the package! Just long enough to plead for another sip.
Overall:This is fine bourbon, ladies and gents. Just right at 13 Years Old!

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Review from BuffaloBill (BourbonEnthusiast Review ID 1217, Created:20080730200232)
Purchased at:Plymouth, MA
Purchased for:$39
Info on this bottle:OFBB 2007 - Spring 1994
Nose:Perfectly balanced. The Rye falls under the Caramel and then comes across as an amalgamation of sorts. Apples, Caramel Apples, Sea Salt, Dry Spice, Caraway, Cotton Candy, Apricot, Bubble Gum, ever-so-slight Melon, Peach, Tangerine, light Honey, Pear, a slight Banana note, lightly cracked Pepper, Brine, Pineapple, Caramel, more Salt... and Leafy ---> I think this is a damn Fine Bourbon.
Taste:See above and add Clove and Eucalyptus to the list. It doesn't stop...
Finish:Great wood. Long...
Overall:... this is SERIOUS BOURBON. This is truly the real deal... when you get serious, look for a bottle of OFBB 2007. It should be kept as an AMERICAN SECRET.

The bottle was opened a month prior and tasted in both Riedell Vinum Tulip and an XO 4400/17 glass. BB

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Review from bourbonguyjapan (BourbonEnthusiast Review ID 1011, Created:20080205035344)
Purchased at:trade
Purchased for:trade
Info on this bottle:Distilled spring 1994 bottled 2007
Nose:Cinnamon, vanilla, caramel. Honey bun w/raisin was written on the card that cam with it.
Taste:Godsend! Truly it was the nectar of the gods!
Um with that said, vanilla/cherry/and some sort of miasma-like complexity that I can not, shall not, will not describe.
Finish:Slow and smooth.
Overall:A great bourbon. No, no, a wonderful treat that perhaps a few lucky folks will get to try.
Not one for the beginning bourbon afficienado, but a good one to try once you have some whitedog wings. Since I fall into the beginner category, it's hard for me to write a review that would sate such a heavenly hooch.
If I ever get the chance to try it again/ buy it again/ trade for it again I would.

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Review from spun_cookie (BourbonEnthusiast Review ID 990, Created:20080115203555, Updated:20080115205838)
Purchased at:BevMo, Chandler AZ
Purchased for:$39
Proof Of this Bottle:94
Nose:What a rich glass of bourbon... this is the Cherry Garcia of the bourbon world... If I could freeze this and make it into a bourbon cycle I would...

Heavy vanilla with binge cherries...

Ya gotta smell this stuff!!!!
Taste:like silk over the tongue.... man that is good... so much in there... there is some wood for sure, just the right amount. Kind of like oak, but I am thinking walnut, maple. The taste of great hard wood when you just got done with the router....

... and all the good stuff said before me... and to follow as well.....
Finish:aaaaarrrhhhaaaaarrrhaaaarrrhhhhhhmmmmmm buuuurbuuunnnn....

this would be my version of Homer Simpson's hell!!!! (Halloween episode with the seemingly endless donuts that he finished... and then he asked for more)

Overall:I would try to add more to Linn's (bunghole's) review, but anything more would be a less

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Review from bunghole (BourbonEnthusiast Review ID 962, Created:20080106144419, Updated:20080106150208) View discussion on this review.
Purchased at:Birthday present from Georgia Mike.
Purchased for:Gift
Info on this bottle:Distilled Spring 1994. Bottled 2007.
Proof Of this Bottle:94
Nose:This is a very tightly complex bourbon with all sents and flavors well amalgamated. It's color is a rich, warm mahogany hued amber. Viscosity in the Glencairn glass is thick and syrupy. Mouthfeel is warm and coating and soothing. The nose is a tricky one without any real topnotes as every nuance is in perfect harmony with one another. Apple Pie - apples; vanilla, some cinnamon, brown sugar, with caramel drizzled on top. Bake in a new charred white oak oven for 13 years.
Taste:It should come as no surprise that the flavors are also tightly locked together. It's a bourbonic apple pie you can drink. I can see no reason to try to pick it apart any further than that.
Finish:Roars with a mighty authority! A cooling bit of mint arrives late in a soothing fashion.
Overall:Roars with a mighty authority! There I said it again, and I mean it too. While enjoying this supurb bourbon I was struck by the balance; harmony, and power of the nose; flavor, and finish. It is like a power chord being belted out of a Hammond B-3 organ with twin Leslie tone cabinets. Reference the powerful grinding tone assault of Steppenwolf's B-3 on "Magic Carpet Ride" combined with the purcussive tone attack of Kieth Emmerson's B-3 on E.L.P.'s Tarkus. Pour yourself a mouthful of power. It roars with a mighty authority!

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Review from Jon (BourbonEnthusiast Review ID 885, Created:20071105051028, Updated:20071105051518)
Purchased at:Liquor barn
Purchased for:$32
Proof Of this Bottle:94
Nose:A deep, sweet spiciness remenicent of a heavily spiced apples with cinnamon and vanilla twigs on top with a backdrop of oak and leather. Hope it tastes this way.
Taste:Yehhhhhh buddy! This is a winner! A medley of rich spices and with a little sweetness.
Finish:A very long (slightly cloying)finish with spices like cinnamon and a barely perceptable mintiness to the end.
Overall:This is a hearty bourbon not for the faint of heart, but for the enthusiast that wants a deep, rich, spicy bourbon that is in your face and very special. Would be excellent with dark chocolate!!

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Review from Mike (BourbonEnthusiast Review ID 867, Created:20071023134155, Updated:20071023143044)
Purchased at:Sigman Bottle Shop, Conyers, GA
Purchased for:$29
Nose:Vanilla, oak, whiff of chocolate, maple syrup, nuts, leather, and rye. Complex, deep, and bourbony!
Taste:A rich exilir strokes its way 'cross the mouth doing a good business in pleasing. A deep and thick vanilla sweetness opens the show followed by a jab of spice and pepper. The Birthday package is very flavorful and robust without being boastful. The wonderful balance of this bourbon makes it just a delight to sip.
Finish:The finish leaves a wake of prime bourbon flavor to seduce you into another sip. Sweet and spice, sweet and dry, make you want to dance........or maybe sing a cowboy song!
Overall:One of the best bourbons I have had in a while. It is everything I wanted WT American Spirit to be, but isn't. In my opinion, the 2007 Birthday Bourbon is a 'tribute' to Chris Morris. I will stock up, bourbon brothers and sisters, cause this one has it all!!

'Barleycorn'! 'Comere, and I will give you a sip of something special and we gone sing a cowboy song.' 'Here we go now....'Its now when I die, lead my pony from the stall, take my saddle from the wall, tie my bones to his back and head him toward the west........we'll ride the country that we love the best!'

'Barleycorn!' Get on key, would you........you making my hearing aids go loud!'

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Review from bourbonv (BourbonEnthusiast Review ID 838, Created:20070923122324)
Purchased at:Gift from Chris Morris
Info on this bottle:Distilled spring 1994 bottled 2007
Proof Of this Bottle:94
Nose:Sweet caramel and vanilla and oak with some hint of ripe apples and mint.
Taste:Nice mouth feel - very chewey with a little alcohol heat but no burn. Sweet caramel apples and pepper spices leading into a little wood tannins.
Finish:Starts sweet but quickly becomes more woody and dry in a very pleasant manner. The wood tannins of the taste quickly become a very nice dry wood finish that lingers for a long while.
Overall:This is a very good bourbon. I think the flavor choice for this year is excellent and may be my favorite Birthday Bourbon yet. Enjoy it neat and enjoy it while you can because it will be gone before you know it.

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