Bland - (adj.) lacking strong features or characteristics and therefore uninteresting; (of food or drink) mild or insipid; (of a person or behavior) showing no strong emotion; dull or unremarkable. It's funny how the palate can change and develop over the years, isn't it. When I was in my mid-20s, back around 2006/2007, and I had nothing better to do on a Saturday or Sunday (i.e., when I wasn't heading out looking for adventure or to hook up), I liked nothing better than to buy a bottle of cheap bourbon, hit Tower Records for a stack of used DVDs, and sit in my apartment getting drunk and watching movies. I remember one particular Sunday, back when my tolerance was strong, putting away 3/4 of a bottle of Evan Williams Black Label while viewing all three entries in Sam Raimi's Spider-man trilogy. I didn't know much about whisky, other than I liked the way it made me feel, the way it loosened my tongue, made me social, and that night, after the Evan Williams and Spider-man, my friend Rachel called to see if I wanted to go out for quizzo and go out I did. I was even coherent for most of the evening. These days I wouldn't try anything of the sort. Whereas, back then, I could make it into work the next day after something like that, these days I'd have to call out and spend the morning in bed, nursing a hangover. But I also don't drink whisky with the express purpose of getting drunk in the way I did back then. Sometimes, however, I like to revisit the bottles and brands of choice from those days, just to see if any of them hold up, particularly in the "budget bourbon" category. Old Forester is a brand I haven't explored beyond the 86 and the 1870 batch. And both are the products of my yesteryear drinking. I remember one night about a decade ago, perhaps a year after I got married and a year before my first child was born, while I was in the process of tapering off my 20s behavior, I bought a bottle of this 86 and was blown away. I mean, man I thought it was good. I was also likely drinking it with ice, as I was wont to do back in those days when the quality of my whiskies was questionable. The 1870 Old Forester came a few months later when it went on clearance and I got that bottle for the same price as the 86 and up until that time, it was probably the best bourbon I'd ever had, and that one, I remember drinking without any ice. So, for the sake of nostalgia, I decided to pick up 86 the other day. My expectations weren't high. I've had a lot of better bourbon since then. But I figure that, even if it wasn't great, I could keep it around for those nights where I didn't want the proof high and where I didn't want to think too much about the whisky. You know, the night I decided to go back and watch The Matrix Trilogy after my family had turned in and I was looking to relive my glory days in a more moderate form. But even with expectations lowered, I was still disappointed to discover that this was...tepid was the first word that came to mind. It wasn't the exact word I was looking for. It was like the cool porridge or too small bed for Goldilocks. But it was...bland. I guess that's the best way to describe this. The nose is primarily vanilla and pine with maybe a tobacco hint. Not bad. Just bland. The palate is vanilla and pine and maybe another sweetness I can't identify. Really by this point, I was starting to think of the air freshener in my old friend Pete's old 1984 Ford Escort that we tooled around in back when we were in high school. Not bad. Gets you where you're going. Just...bland. And the finish is mostly pepper and alcohol. It doesn't burn. If you're seasoned on barrel proof alcohols, the proof is too low for a burn, but it's definitely got a youth to it that I would say is a half step past white whisky. Not horrible. Just...bland. And so my reaction here? Well, I actually think this is better than my worst reviewed bourbon here, that terrible Elijah Craig Single Barrel Select from Circle Liquors in Somers Point, but only by a step. I couldn't have expected much from this. I was hoping to be surprised. Sometimes you shouldn't revisit that city from your youth where you tore it up that weekend. This was the whisky version of that for me. ...I'll still probably finish the bottle at some point.