Old Forester Birthday Bourbon 2015

I was excited about trying Old Forester Birthday Bourbon for the first time - after all, it's got LE sex appeal by the truckloads - maybe not as much as Buffalo Trace's limited editions, but you get the idea. There are definite cherry notes in this bourbon but I was stunned when I stuck my nose in the glass and was assaulted with powerful aromas of acetone. I let the bottle sit for a month and the acetone notes (on both the nose AND the palate) have subsided. It no longer tastes like cherry flavored paint-thinner. I will revisit this bourbon again down the line to see if it has improved, but thus far this has proved to be a huge (and pricey) disappointment. [Edit: bumped up to two stars... it's starting to taste like bourbon but whiskey is all about the journey so we'll see where this ends up].

This is one of those I wished I never traded for. My first taste had many unusual flavors and I was enamored by it. When I did get my own bottle, it was an immediate disappointment. I have yet to have the experience that replicates my first taste from the 2015 bottling.