Review: Old Forester's 2024 Birthday Bourbon Is One Gift That's Better Left In The Box

September is nearly upon us, and with Labor Day weekend comes the excitement of the Old Forester Birthday Bourbon release. The release from this Louisville distiller has occurred every since 2002, with this year being a little different. Acquiring even the chance to purchase this annual, limited-release bottle came with some competition in the form of a sweepstakes. 

While the window to win a bottle was only open for one week (now passed), the winners of the sweepstakes won't learn about their opportunity to purchase a Birthday Bourbon until the actual titular date of September 2, a key moment in Old Forester history. This year's challenge for Birthday Bourbon is two-fold — the second part is actually picking up your bottle ... a task that for most people will cost a lot more than the counter price of this bourbon.

But, I'm getting ahead of myself. Whose birthday is it? What are the hidden costs of scoring a taste of this whiskey? And is it worth picking up in the first place? I've had the lucky chance to try what is an exceptionally hard bourbon yo acquire, and have set to answering all your questions about this Old Forester limited release.

Some recommendations are based on firsthand impressions of promotional materials and products provided by the manufacturer and distributor.

Produced every year beginning in 2002, the Birthday Bourbon drops on September 2nd each year and celebrates the birthday of George Garvin Brown, founder of Old Forester's founder, today's Brown-Forman Corporation, and the innovator of bottled (rather than barreled) bourbon sales. 

The release numbers for Birthday Bourbon tend to line up with the current year, since 2003 saw both spring and fall releases before settling into Brown's actual birthday. That makes 2024 the 24th installment of this series. The company is no stranger to limited releases — it just recently celebrated an Old Forester sesquicentennial birthday with just 650 bottles of a special 150th anniversary blended 12-year whiskey. 

The Birthday Bourbon is meant to embody the best of Old Forester, and for that reason clings to the regular mash bill of 72% corn, 18% rye, and 10% malted barley. The barrels used to make this year's Birthday Bourbon are aged 12 years or more, and land at a heady, though not hard-swinging, 107 proof. Last year's was a mere 96 at the same age statement, by contrast, and the previous record for this label was 2019's 105 proof. For reference, the standard release is a breezy-by-comparison 86 proof.

While Old Forester Birthday Bourbon sells for $200 — which is quite the bump from its $170 price point in 2023, its $130 in 2021, or 2018's $100 threshold. But let's say you have the money in hand — that doesn't mean you'll be able to buy it. What keeps this bottle as less-than-accessible is not the usual causes, like speculators snapping it up for the secondary market or retailers raising it to prestige prices that imply significance and rarity. Nope, your obstacle to procuring this bottle is its distribution.

See, there's a but. These coveted bottles can only be purchased at the Old Forester Distillery on Louisville's Whiskey Row, meaning you'll have to go there to buy it between September 2 and December 14. And, there's another but to that but! To have the right to purchase a bottle, you also had to win a now-closed sweepstakes. Don't expect to roll up in mid-December and ask the distillery if it's ready to rid itself of all the bottles that the lottery winners didn't purchase. You either have a golden ticket or you're out of luck. And no, you can't send a proxy. You'll have to travel there yourself. No shipping, no extensions.

However, if you're really fixed on purchasing a bottle, there are a good number out there, and you'll likely find someone willing to part with it for a price in either shady marketplaces or the more legitimate online retailers like Frootbat. Get ready to shell out four figures, though.

With an exclusively allocated whiskey, there are always two questions: "Was it so good that the maker had to administer a limited supply for a vast demand? Or, has the whiskey's scarcity driven that demand? instead" Either question always seem to be followed by the same answer: "Yes." 

With just one thousand winners selected from its birthday sweepstakes, Old Forester looks to have tightened up from prior runs, which reportedly produced about 14,000 bottles of Birthday Bourbon per year. Additionally, the release used to include on-site sales at the distillery. Now it's sweepstakes-only and you have to pick it up in person once you win. This makes it a combination of chance and dedication for the devoted Old Forester fan. It sounds like a pain, and it is, but it's one way to ensure you really want this bottle and aren't just going to speculate.

This year's release is the result of blends from 209 barrels, the youngest whiskey of which is aged 12 years. That's not to say those barrels all and evenly fill the final batch, though, since Old Forester's master taster Melissa Rift told Southern Living that a barrel yields about 170 bottles. With just a thousand bottles released, we're 34,000 short of full use, it seems. That means the proportions of each barrel's characteristics obviously play into the blend.

It is my personal superstition that 12-year bourbon barrels prove again and again to be a sweet spot for whiskeys out of this region of the United States; the nearly year-over-year excitement for consistent 12-year age statement releases upholds that opinion. Though Old Forester's heat cycling process means you may find better mileage out of a 10-year than many other brands' 12.

Tangerine in color, its nose is lemony, followed by flour (even though wheat is the one grain from the big four missing here). I'm trying not to psychosomatically say birthday cake, but the press release and other reviews agree: this has a cakey profile. Behind the lemon lies peach (Old Forester suggests nectarine stone fruit), and a whole candy shop of flavors.

Though its aroma is absent of ethanol, the first sip blazes even after sitting for a few minutes. Behind that lies the distinct kick of potent whiskey, and this is a perfect illustration of the difference between what scorches the skin and what makes you cough. Its esters give lemon again, much closer to rind than pulp. There's a charred aspirin that blooms into straight oak chewing, and touch of chocolate. Its nuance flourishes entirely after you've swallowed it.

A drop of water quells the heat immensely but brings forward men's perfume, taking as much as it gives, or more. For science I put this rarity on the rocks. The chilled nose sends celery forward, and then with that this whiskey tastes like the end of a martini. I like olives and gin, but don't need a highly sought bourbon to drink it. Hopefully this is a fluke year or I just have bad taste buds, because this does not square with everything I've heard. If this is high-test, I'll take the 96 proof, please.

If you must try it, order a glass at a whiskey bar. Neat is the way to go. The flavors that emerge with water and cold pay it no compliments, and it's worth the fireworks in your mouth to keep it to the distillers' and master taster's original intention. You'll have to love heat; it's interesting to hold it on your tongue and distinguish burn from kick, but it's not a fun whiskey.

This is a bourbon that lingers better than it drinks, so I'd well space out my sips and savor the ghost of complexity in the mouth following its departure. Because it offers up its best and more complicated notes in the traces following each swallow, it's a good bourbon to pour in conversation with someone you're inclined to listen to thoughtfully.

If you like Blanton's sizzle, you'll consider Birthday Bourbon 2024 easier passage. If you enjoy the taste of the more prevalent Tennessee whiskeys (I do!) you'll find familiar flavors to savor in this Kentucky bottle. But those are available for a bill in your wallet while this must be hard-won at $200, and frankly, Dickel is more versatile (plus you won't feel bad mixing it).

I wish I could tell you yes. Winning a whiskey lottery, taking a trip to Kentucky, picking up a white whale bourbon ... that all sounds like a great week. But getting hyped for that journey, only to find a respectable but middling bourbon, feels like such a greater fall from expectation to experience. You might as well just trek to Louisville to pick up a good, locally exclusive bottle you know you'll like. (May I suggest the now in-reserve Evan Williams Black Bourbon EWBE Edition?) As it happens, that utterly satisfying bottle of tried and true Old Forester at your local liquor store will be there when you get home, offering better returns on your buck.

Look, I like and admire Old Forester. I even took a detour on a recent press trip to Louisville to stick my head in the distillery and pay my respects to the brand's beautiful column still. It's a lovely place full of hard-working people, and nobody's more upset than I am that this bourbon's a skip. Rats. Bottom line: this is a bourbon that will please a select group of devotees, and even my enthusiastic attitude towards Old Forester can't part me with $200 for it. Better luck next year, team. I'm eager to change my tune.