Old Forester 1897 Bottled In Bond Bourbon

With this Bottled-in-Bond down, I will officially have covered 4/4 of Old Forester’s “year-themed” series. I quite enjoyed the other 3, with Old Forester Prohibition being the crown jewel. The quality and ABV have had a positive correlation, so this should be good following that logic. Nose: Brown sugar, caramel, vanilla, and toffee. Toasted almond and macadamia. Banana walnut muffin. Dried apricot and raisin. Pipe smoke, cocoa, and sawdust. Orange peel. Black tea. Flintstone Vitamin and other mineral notes. Apple and honey. Cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, black pepper, and oak. Palate: Heavy on the gala apple. Vanilla, caramel, brown sugar, and toffee. Macadamia and toasted almond. Cinnamon Apple Jacks and Cornflakes. Flintstone’s Vitamin. The banana walnut muffin is present, but exists more so in the background. Dried apricot and raisin. A touch of black cherry. Light pipe smoke and black tea. Black pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, and oak. Finish: Gala apple. Cinnamon Apple Jacks. Flintstone Vitamins. Heavy black cherry. Dried apricot, raisin. Banana walnut muffin. Almond and macadamia. Vanilla, brown sugar, toffee, caramel. Black tea, pipe smoke, black pepper, orange peel. Cinnamon, black pepper, clove, nutmeg, and oak. Long. This is a really nice whiskey. As I speculated ahead of time, the higher proof comes appreciated. The Old Forester palate runs a tad on the sweet side, and the heat from the proof and barrel spice provide a nice balance there. Quite easily worth the pop at $50. This doesn’t come close to the Prohibition, but it’s as good as the rest of the line—at the very least. 4.25/5 for the BiB. What a great, affordable line. Kudos to Old Forester for that.

This is the final taste of the bottle, enjoyed neat from a grappa copita. The nose off this polished walnut liquid is sweet with caramel, waxy crayons, burnt sugar, and slight ethanol. These notes lie on a bed of cherry cough drops. Its moderately complex, appealing and inviting but not exceptional in any way. On the palate this is slightly drier than the 1910. It doesn't have the sweetness or lushness of that expression, which is my favorite so far of the Old Forester Whiskey Row series. That said, it does have a measure of sweetness all its own that's balanced nicely by oak, barrel char and a hint of woody bitterness. The finish is moderate and fades to a dry, oaky smolder of black pepper. I've had this neat, on ice and in several cocktails. This was really at its peak in an Old Fashioned, particularly if a bit of Luxardo cherry syrup is used as the sweetener. It's quite good in almost any whiskey forward stirred cocktail. And maybe that's the problem with this expression. At near $55 it's not twice as good as Wild Turkey 101, or Knob Creek. It's a good cocktail whiskey, but it's priced with solid sippers that offer more complexity and a richer experience. 1897 is good stuff, but not exceptional.

Interesting that this is basically the same as the 90 proof single barrel, just a little more intense and hotter. Nose: Brown sugar, molasses, chili flakes, oak and leather. Palate: Entry is pleasant, somewhere between silky and velvety, brown sugar, vanilla, oak, baking spices, chili flakes, bitter walnut like notes and a bit of heat. Finish: Lengthy, slightly bittersweet with a spicy smolder. I enjoy this a little better than the single barrel 90 proof, but not enough to bump it up to four stars. Edit 6/8/25 Tasted this again in a flight of OF and it really shined. No new notes but it blew the 90 proof single barrel away. Much more assertive nose than previous tasting. I chose this as my favorite of the night over the single barrel select, 1910 and 1920. Bumped 1/4 point.

On the nose, strong caramel apple note. Warm, spicy. The apple shines through, and though the expert states “red apple,” i believe it to be more of a green apple and a bit of alcohol. On the tongue. Warm and the green apple steals the show, mellows a bit to an oily sweet middle to a spicy, little musty and almost musty finish. A bit of that proof comes in at the end but the apple note stays all the way through. Almost a butterscotch sweetness as well before the heat. Apple is really prevalent, but its delicious and hot. The fruit note of it lightens it up quite a bit but it definitely has that leathery old bourbon flavor. Very noce and a bit complex, a nice pour!

Nose: Fairly straightforward, oak, vanilla and honey come in and deliver. Slight notes of baking spices and oak. Palate: nose translates fairly well. There is a slight tang at the end of it that i cant quite put my finger on that isnt my favorite experience. But besides that its a fairly well rounded and solid whisky. Finish. Short-medium with a decent mouthfeel. Honey is the main thing i get off of it. Overall a solid mid shelf whisky that delivers on classic bourbon flavors. The only major point to dislike it is the price point is higher than a lot of similar whiskys which lowers its appeal.

Part of a whiskey row sampler pack, the nose starts out as a rich bouquet of sweet fruits, this transitions to a familiar Brown-Foreman smell, before fading the a little bit of ethanol heat. The fruit notes continue straight into the palate, just a hint of spice and oak, and a slight medicinal note. Through and through the fruit contiues long after a sip. While this isn't my favorite Old Forester offering, this is by no means a slight on the product. It's a very good fruit-foreward bourbon that I'm certainly happy to drink.