Old Forester 1897 Bottled In Bond

Very smooth

This 100 proof whiskey makes for a mouth filling, spicy and caramel flavor. A bit more bite than the 1870. Very nice

With this Bottled-in-Bond down, I will officially have covered 4/4 of Old Forester’s “year-themed” series. I quite enjoyed the other 3, with Old Forester Prohibition being the crown jewel. The quality and ABV have had a positive correlation, so this should be good following that logic. Nose: Brown sugar, caramel, vanilla, and toffee. Toasted almond and macadamia. Banana walnut muffin. Dried apricot and raisin. Pipe smoke, cocoa, and sawdust. Orange peel. Black tea. Flintstone Vitamin and other mineral notes. Apple and honey. Cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, black pepper, and oak. Palate: Heavy on the gala apple. Vanilla, caramel, brown sugar, and toffee. Macadamia and toasted almond. Cinnamon Apple Jacks and Cornflakes. Flintstone’s Vitamin. The banana walnut muffin is present, but exists more so in the background. Dried apricot and raisin. A touch of black cherry. Light pipe smoke and black tea. Black pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, and oak. Finish: Gala apple. Cinnamon Apple Jacks. Flintstone Vitamins. Heavy black cherry. Dried apricot, raisin. Banana walnut muffin. Almond and macadamia. Vanilla, brown sugar, toffee, caramel. Black tea, pipe smoke, black pepper, orange peel. Cinnamon, black pepper, clove, nutmeg, and oak. Long. This is a really nice whiskey. As I speculated ahead of time, the higher proof comes appreciated. The Old Forester palate runs a tad on the sweet side, and the heat from the proof and barrel spice provide a nice balance there. Quite easily worth the pop at $50. This doesn’t come close to the Prohibition, but it’s as good as the rest of the line—at the very least. 4.25/5 for the BiB. What a great, affordable line. Kudos to Old Forester for that.

Nose: Fairly straightforward, oak, vanilla and honey come in and deliver. Slight notes of baking spices and oak. Palate: nose translates fairly well. There is a slight tang at the end of it that i cant quite put my finger on that isnt my favorite experience. But besides that its a fairly well rounded and solid whisky. Finish. Short-medium with a decent mouthfeel. Honey is the main thing i get off of it. Overall a solid mid shelf whisky that delivers on classic bourbon flavors. The only major point to dislike it is the price point is higher than a lot of similar whiskys which lowers its appeal.