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Sunday, May 12, 2019

Old Forester 1910 Old Fine Whisky Kentucky Straight Bourbon

VITALS:
- $50
- 93 Proof
- NAS
- Kentucky

This review is a perfect example of why nobody should put much stock into reviews. After all, they are completely subjected and dependent upon the reviewer's subjective tastes. What I like you may hate, and vice versa. And so it goes with Old Forester 1910.

I loved Old Forester 1920. It was complex, flavorful and a great buy for the price. And when 1910 was released, the response was pretty much equal to that of 1920. People absolutely love this stuff across the board. Since I opened my bottle, I've kept my eye out for any naysayers or dissenters, and to date I haven't seen one in the group.

So now I find myself in the minority here (which is why you should take my review with a grain of salt and try this for yourself), because I really disliked this bourbon. In fact, in my mind it shouldn't even be called bourbon, because to me it just didn't taste like bourbon, but rather some liqueur with a bit of bourbon flavor to it.

To be fair, the nose on this is great. It's full of sweet brown sugar and has a buttery aroma to it that reminded me of french toast. I even got a little bit of peanut on the nose as well as a light maltiness to balance the sweet and buttery flavors. The nose was unique and really good.

Unfortunately, what followed was a bit of a sloppy mess. On my initial sips I got some unsweetened cinnamon and some burnt orange and bitter orange pith flavors. I also got a decent amount of almond.  From time to time a bright note of dried apricot came through. So far so good.

But then the off-putting flavors came through, and they did so in a big way, smacking my mouth with offensive flavors. First it was a weird farmhouse kind of funk. I don't know how best to describe it other than that it was vegetal in quality, almost like hay and green pepper.

And then I got the fake cherry flavor that absolutely put me off. I'm good with cherry notes typically, but the fake cherry is just awful, reminding me of cough syrup. I had hopes that this note would eventually go away, but it never did, and it offended my tongue from the first pour to the last.

I also got a lot of black licorice, and I mean a LOT. I like a good anise note in my whiskey from time to time, but this was simply too much, and it seemed to get progressively worse the more I drank. By the final pours from the bottle, it was as though someone had actually taken Jagermeister or Herbsaint and added it directly to the bottle. As I took notes one evening while trying to enjoy a pour of this, I actually wrote down, "Blech!"

I wanted to enjoy this bottle, I really did. It has great viscosity, is super rich and is full of flavor. For me, however, it's full of the wrong flavors to the point that fit was nearly undrinkable. I don't get it. It's rare that I diverge so greatly from the masses, who have universally loved this product. In fact, my father-in-law, who is relatively new to bourbon, declared this the best bourbon he's ever tasted.  I, however, will never let it touch my tongue again. And so, with that being said, reviews are stupid, please disregard everything you just read and try it for yourself.

Grade: C-

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