Old Forester 1910 Bourbon Review

By Richard Thomas

Rating: B+

The fourth and final installment in Old Forester’s Whiskey Row series (each tied to a particular moment in time for the venerable Old Forester brand, and named for both it’s former home and recently opened urban distillery on Louisville’s Whiskey Row) *, Old Forester 1910 is a double barreled bourbon.

“Double barrel bourbon” refers to a bourbon that has received secondary maturation (finishing) in new white oak. This differs from the traditional whisky finishing practice imported from Scotland, as well as how it has come to be generally applied in America, which relies on used casks to draw some flavors from those casks’ old contents (Port, Sherry, beer, rum, etc.). Drawing on a fresh, second round of oak, whether toasted or charred, essentially doubles up on the sweet characteristics of American oak.

In modern times, this began with Woodford Reserve’s (a Brown-Forman stablemate) Double Oaked. However, according to Brown-Forman the story reaches back further, to 1910. A fire shut down the bottling plant and some already vatted bourbon needed to be transferred to indefinite storage, so they put it back into barrels.

This double barrel bourbon differs from Woodford Reserve Double Oaked because while the later uses new, toasted barrels, Old Forester 1910 relies on heavily scorched barrels. The char time is implied to be over that of the #4 “alligator char” that is the usual maximum, which is more than double what the typical Old Forester barrel gets. Regular Old Forester goes into those burnt barrels for another six to nine months. The result is bottled at 93 proof.

The Bourbon
After a pour I found my glass had a dark, rusty amber liquid. It was thick, and the coating of the glass left a thin crown that dropped tiny, slow-moving tears. The look of it was like that of a reddened maple syrup. I found the nose light, leading with oak and a bit of leather, with mild touches of vanilla and citrus behind it.

That light, airy scent gave way to something more substantial and chewy on the palate, and also sweeter. This bourbon really sticks to your mouth. Also, the sweetness drawn from the heavily cooked second set of barrels comes out much, much more with a sip than with a sniff. Brown sugar, caramel and a pinch of lemon zest are rounded out by a light brushing of spice and just a hint of oakiness.

The finish eventually becomes the oakiest part of all. It starts by continuing to run sweet, then turns quite woody, before finally turning to a moderately dry spiciness.

What you have here is a bourbon that is rather sophisticated for its years, one that merits quite a bit of enjoyable attention as you sip on it. It’s not an easy drinking whiskey, as it demands some study, but pleasurable all the same.

The Price
A bottle of Old Forester 1910 will set you back $55.

* The previous installments of the Whiskey Row series are 1870 Original Batch, 1897 Bottled In Bond, and 1920 Prohibition Style.