Happy Birthday to GGB
It’s almost time to raise a glass to honor the birthday of George Garvin Brown, who founded Old Forester Bourbon in 1870. If you’re lucky, you might have some of the 25th edition of Old Forester Birthday Bourbon in your glass for the toast to GGB. (See the details for the online sweepstakes in the box at the bottom of this article.)
Old Forester Master Distiller Emeritus Chris Morris and Assistant Master Distiller Caleb Trigo teamed up to select this year’s 12-year-old expression from 210 barrels all produced on the same day (April 15, 2013.)
One thing that sets this year’s batch apart from its 24 birthday predecessors? Sweet mash, meaning freshly-propagated yeast, was used. No “setback” was carried over from a previous batch, as it is in the sour mash distillery process.
“For our 25th Birthday Bourbon release, the absence of setback allowed the yeast to express its full character, creating a flavor profile that’s both delicate and complex,” Trigo said.
Old Forester’s Birthday Bourbon 2025
Age: 12 years old
ABV: 46%
Tasting notes:
- Color – Honeycomb
- Aroma – Notes of herbal tea and cardamom complimented by hints of raw oak as well as tropical fruits and green apple
- Taste – Silky notes of oak and vanilla, balanced with sweet citrus and clove spice
- Finish – candied apple and burnt sugar with leather and chai spice
SRP: $199
Availability: In addition to the online sweepstakes, the 2025 Birthday Bourbon will also be available in limited quantities at select retailers nationwide.
Bourbon was dying. Old Forester was dying.
I was honored to be invited to a whiskey media tasting and lunch with Old Forester to roll out Birthday Bourbon 2025 at Louisville’s Pendennis Club. Our hosts were Morris, Trigo, and Master Taster Melissa Rift.
Before the assembled group sampled the 2025 Birthday Bourbon batch, Morris told how the idea for the special annual releases first came to life in 1999. He said the days before the turn of the new century were dark indeed. “Bourbon was dying,” Morris said. “Old Forester was dying.”
“A group of us got together…to discuss how and what we could do to save Old Forester. We agree at this meeting that the core tenet of Old Forester was its history. It had a history and a story that no bourbon brand could match. That (history) would be the foundation of whatever we were to do.”
At the time, the concept of vintage-dating (a release from a single day of production) was popular with Beaujolais Nouveau wine and single malt scotches. This provided a unique flavor that is different than their core products.
“I put two-and-two together and said, ‘Let’s take a single date of production…a vintage…and release it on one day…George Garvin Brown’s birthday. That’s going to give us our concept.’”
Morris continued his story: “I’ll never forget when (Brand Manager Mike Haering) called me on the phone: ‘Chris, I’ve got the name. Birthday Bourbon.’”
“I said, ’That is the dumbest (I used a vulgarity) name I’ve ever heard.’ Because as a distiller, when you say ‘birthday,’ that’s green whiskey, it’s brand new distillate, it’s not aged.”
“And Mike said, quite cleverly, ‘Too bad. It’s been approved.’ So Birthday Bourbon was born.”
Once our quick history lesson was over, it was time to put this year’s Birthday Bourbon to a taste test with a neat pour. It turns out that I’m a sucker for “a silky and sweet flavor profile that shines at 92 proof.” There’s a reason Birthday Bourbon is so popular. It’s excellent.
“There’s no better way to honor our founder than by sharing this rare and remarkable expression with bourbon lovers nationwide,”
“There is nothing better on the market.”
Even bourbon writers have to entry a lottery to win a full bottle of this year’s Birthday Bourbon. Four bottles were given away that day. I lost all four.
Fortunately for me, I had entered the online sweepstakes before I left home that morning and I fully expect to win the right to buy a bottle. (My birthday is in September too, so I think that will help my chances.)
I hope you’ll celebrate Mr. Brown’s birthday with whatever Old Forester expression you have on hand. As he said, “There’ is nothing better on the market.”
The Old Forester Birthday Bourbon Online Sweepstakes
- First, you have to enter, and then you have to win, the online sweepstakes that allows you to purchase a bottle.
- If you win (and pay), you have to pick up your bottle of Birthday Bourbon at the Old Forester Distillery on Main Street in downtown Louisville, Kentucky between September 4 and December 20, 2025.
- Note: Birthday Bourbon will NOT be sold at the distillery on September 2.
To enter for a chance to buy, visit the website. (Until August 21, 2025)
About Old Forester
(From the distillery): Old Forester is Brown-Forman’s founding brand, founded in 1870 by George Garvin Brown. Brown believed Old Forester was so pure and consistent that he sealed it, signed it, and pledged, “There is nothing better in the market.”
