Old Forester Birthday Bourbon Review: Worth the Hype?

In celebration of Bourbon Heritage Month, Bourbon Lens has released its review of Old Forester Birthday Bourbon, one of the whiskey industry’s most talked-about annual releases. This year’s edition comes in at 11 years old and 97 proof, and hit shelves earlier this month.

“This is probably one of the most controversial bourbons in all of the market,” said host Jake Lewellen on the latest episode of Five Minute Fridays. “Either people love it, they hate it, or they want to collect it.”

The review comes fresh off Kentucky Bourbon Festival, where Lewellen says blending and moderated proof points were a hot topic among industry panels. “The panel I was on at Kentucky Bourbon Festival, a lot of people talked about blending and the age of, you know, not everything having to be, you know, as high proof as it has been,” he said. “I do appreciate that this is a limited release that comes out that’s not super high proof.”

On the nose, Jake picked up notes of burnt sugar, crème brûlée, brown sugar, caramel, and French vanilla custard, along with a touch of fruit and baking spice leading into tobacco. On the palate, he described the pour as bigger and bolder than its proof suggests, with oak tannic influence balanced by those same confectionery notes. The finish brings tobacco and a cherry cordial note that builds the longer it’s sipped.

Jake compared this year’s release favorably to Old Forester’s recent “Kentucky Boy” bottling. “I think Birthday Bourbon stands up to that, if not a little bit better than Kentucky Boy,” he said, adding that Old Forester and parent company Brown-Forman have been “on a heater” with recent releases.

“This is one of the better birthday bourbons that I recall having,” Jake said. “I really liked last year’s. This one’s better than last year’s. This is just hitting all the right notes for me and what bourbon should be.”

Jake credited the Old Forester blending team — Caleb, Melissa, and Chris — for the release, calling it “really well blended.” His final verdict: he’d buy it at suggested retail price if given the chance.

The full tasting and breakdown are available now on Bourbon Lens’s Five Minute Fridays segment, across YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and bourbonlens.com.

About Bourbon Lens Bourbon Lens is a bourbon-industry media brand delivering reviews, distillery news, and conversations with the people shaping the whiskey world, including its weekly quick-hit review series, Five Minute Fridays.