When it comes to Louisville’s Old Forester, there’s one bottle that rules them all — Old Forester Birthday Bourbon. I cannot overstate how much people lust after this bottle. I’ve been at auctions and seen single bottles go for five figures easily. The main reason is that this is unassailably amazing American whiskey that’s super rare and always interesting.
Read our review of the 2023, 2022, and 2021 vintages by clicking on the dates.
Well, that, and it’s released once per year with a very small bottle count making it into the masses. The whiskey is usually a blend of 12-year-old barrels that were all filled on the same day (hence the “Birthday” moniker). It also always comes in at a very sippable 96-proof.
Last year, the rarity was amped up even more by Old Forester moving to a lottery system to get your hands on one from the distillery. Yes, small allocations went out to elite bars and restaurants. But if you wanted to get your own bottle as a consumer, you had to win a distillery lottery and go to Kentucky to pick up your bottle. That’s commitment, folks.
That means for some, it’s just easier to pay a premium on the secondary retail market or at auction. Or taste it at a whiskey bar.
This bottle becomes available in September every year. That means that you’ll need to enter the lottery in mid/late August. Old Forester will announce the lottery in mid-summer, with the lottery usually running the last two weeks of August. It’s on you to track Old Forester’s socials and whiskey groups’ news and announcements to see exactly when the 2024 lottery will take place.
Last year, 500 folks we lucky enough to win the “sweepstakes” and get the honor of buying a bottle. It’s probably best to assume that this year’s winners will be around the same number. So you have about six months to keep track and get ready to enter. Good luck!
