Old Forester is releasing the rarest bottle it has ever produced – a decanter to honor the brand’s 150th anniversary filled with extraordinarily exquisite 12 ½ -12-year-old bourbon.
Five hundred (500) bottles were originally crafted for members of the Brown family, who own Brown-Forman and key company partners. One hundred and fifty (150) were set aside for special tastings and events at the company.
But the global pandemic in 2020 shuttered those plans – and those 150 bottles remained in storage.
Now, Old Forester is offering them to the public.
The decanter, priced at $2,500, goes on sale today only at oldforester.com – no bottles will be sold at the distillery itself. People who purchase the bottle can only pick them up on December 5, the anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition. The bottle purchase includes a private VIP tour of the Old Forester distillery, cocktails, and appetizers with members of the Brown family.
On April 18, 2008, Master Distiller Chris Morris hand-selected six barrels for this special decanter. It was bottled 150 months later ( 12.5 years), in 2020. These barrels were matured in Warehouse J, top floor 8, Rick 44, tier 1.
“Old Forester is the only bourbon to exist before, during, and after Prohibition – and what better way to celebrate that legacy than offering to the public this rare decanter,” said Old Forester Master Taster Meliss Rift.
The decanter is presented in a custom wooden handmade box – the wood was recovered from the fire at Old Forester on Whiskey Row in 2015. The fire nearly destroyed the Whiskey Row block.
The 150th decanter is a nod to the Old Forester historic holiday decanters in the 1950s and 1960s designed by Raymond Loewy, the celebrated father of industrial design.
A special year-long exhibit, which opens this month at the Frazier Museum, tells the story of those mid-century decanters. The Frazier, at 9th and Main, in downtown Louisville, is considered the start of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.
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