Old Forester Birthday Bourbon (2024) Review

I would normally begin a review of Old Forester’s Birthday Bourbon by talking about its significance to the founder of the brand or a brief history of its releases. But this year, I have something else to say instead. It’s become apparent over the last few years that Birthday Bourbon is no longer the “Bourbon Release Season” darling that it once was. Let me explain.

If you rewind back to 2018 or so, you could count on the major distilleries in Kentucky putting out their limited release whiskies at more or less the same – the last 5 months of the year. In August you’d look for Wild Turkey Master’s Keep edition, Bombergers and Shenks. Then at the beginning of September, Birthday Bourbon and Four Roses Small Batch Limited Edition come out. In October you’d try your hardest to get a bottle from the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection or Midwinter’s Night Dram and towards the end of the year you’d look for the Van Winkle releases and Angel’s Envy Cask Strength limited time offering (LTO). With the exception of very small releases, this was about it when it came to an enthusiast’s wishlist.

Brown-Forman expands special releases across the board

Nowadays every distillery is rolling out with multiple LTO’s throughout the year. By itself, that’s not bad news at all, but it has tripled the amount of special bottles that would come out annually. Brown-Forman’s Old Forester Brand has come to embrace this concept just like the others. Now instead of just Birthday Bourbon; enthusiasts have more choices including two to three “The 117 Series” releases, President’s Choice single barrels and even King of Kentucky (technically not an Old Forester product, but I’m going to roll it up under the brand anyway).

My point is that Birthday Bourbon now has to share the spotlight with other releases that are – frankly – better. And if they’re not better, at least they’re damn close (I’m looking at you The 117 Series Bottled-in-Bond). What this means is that Birthday Bourbon isn’t as coveted as it once was. Just look at reviews across the internet of the past 5 years or so. They’re much more critical than you’d find on a Four Roses Small Batch Limited Edition or a George T. Stagg.

I think Old Forester recognizes this and is trying to secretly address it. In the past, almost all Birthday Bourbon releases were bottled at 12 years and 98 proof (on average). But over the last 5 years, we’ve seen the average proof climb into the 100’s. And while Old Forester will publicly say that the proof of Birthday Bourbon is selected by a panel based on what they think is the sweet spot, I also think that it doesn’t grab the attention of the average enthusiast if it’s not a higher proof.

This all leads me back to my original train of thought: I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this year’s Birthday Bourbon is the highest proof they’ve ever bottled (107) I also think they did that to be more competitive with Four Roses Limited Edition. After all, the highest regarded Birthday Bourbon in recent memory was the 2019 release which – ironically – held the title as highest proofed Birthday Bourbon release up until right now.

The 2024 release of Old Forester Birthday Bourbon

I have found that Old Forester tends to have one unique trait about the barrels that were selected for that particular year. Remember, the barrels that make up the annual batch of Birthday Bourbon all come from the exact same day of distillation. They might be spread out to different warehouses, but they’re tracked according to the day they were filled. This year’s quirk was that the fermentation time was unusually short. In the distilling industry, most mashes require at least 72 hours to ferment completely. Apparently these barrels took less time than that. According to Old Forester, this should result in less fruit esters being created.

On top of that, the barrels were aged in Warehouse G and L. G has been used somewhat regularly for previous Birthday Bourbon batches (2014, 2017 and 2021) but no releases have used Warehouse L since 2004. One other interesting fact is that Warehouse G had the steam heat turned off for a number of years (perhaps from 2017 to 2023) for experimental purposes while Warehouse L was regularly heat-cycled. Warehouse L is also odd in the fact that it only has 4 floors rather than 8 – until you realize it was just built without a mezzanine to separate them inside. Want to know more about Brown-Forman’s warehouses? Check out these informative articles I wrote here and here.

Now that you know everything you wanted to know about this year’s Birthday Bourbon, let’s get down to tasting it. I sampled this neat in a glencairn.

Tasting Notes

Nose: A rich nose of antique oak, conditioned leather, heavy vanilla bean scents and coconut cream pie. The fruit notes aren’t as absent as I thought they’d be because I can still find strawberry preserves and orange extract scents. Otherwise, cocoa powder, peppermint, and a light amount of anise can be found. Getting back to that coconut cream pie scent, throughout the three sessions I’ve had with this release, I’ve found it can change between that, white chocolate or marshmallow fluff. Your mileage may vary.

Palate: Showcasing the power of heat-cycled warehouses, the barrels really imparted a strong amount of oak and varnish notes along with dark chocolate and old leather. Heavy rye influence shows up with flavors of peppermint, fennel, anise, cinnamon candies and clove. Sweetness comes from caramel and molasses. Just like the nose, I find fruit flavors similar to those hard strawberry candies, orange extract and coconut flesh. I even get some toasted almond notes which is somewhat unusual for Brown-Forman products.

Finish: The closing flavors showcase a more minty/menthol feeling upon completion of the sip. I can also find cinnamon, citrus and oak flavors that linger for a while. Some of the oak is drying. There’s even a tiny bit of that toasted almond note that hangs around.

Score: 8.4/10

I was hyping myself up for a repeat of the 2019 Birthday Bourbon release based on the similarities with the high proof and age. But while this was still a really enjoyable experience, I could tell it wasn’t hitting the high notes that I was thinking it would. Each sip delivered exactly what I expected, but somehow the wow factor wasn’t entirely there. Would I still sip this every day if I could? You betcha. Would I pick it over the 2019 if both were the same price? No, not really.

Final Thoughts

With each release of Birthday Bourbon comes a slight bump in price. This year, that number hits $200 – a $30 increase from last year. For many, this is just a number that we’ll learn to live with but it does demonstrate a growing trend in limited release price increases that not everyone can or wants to keep up with. What I’m getting at is this Birthday Bourbon release is getting closer to that price point where enthusiasts are going to start turning it down. But I’d still recommend buying one if you find it at retail.

Birthday Bourbon has always been about showcasing the depth and range that Old Forester barrels can achieve with extra-long maturation. If you’ve liked them before, you’re going to like it with this one. The extra proof does elevate the experience that fans of higher-proofed bourbons should enjoy. So while I might not have sang as many praises about this year’s release, it’s still a damn fine bourbon and one that I would buy in a heartbeat.