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I'm gonna give Brown Forman a shot this month. Old Forester Signature is this months BOTM.
I've had it before, but it's been a while. I don't have any notes of my own at this time, but maybe I'll post some at a later date. I managed to find a bottle yesterday. :grin:
Let's hear your comments about Old Forester Signature. Comparisons with Old Forester BIB are also welcomed and encouraged. :cool:
Cheers! Joe
Good choice, I'll have to dig out my notes.
I just finished a bottle of this that I bought for $19.99. It was a good everyday pour. If you have some high proof special edition bourbon that you don't want to finish all at once, start with a pour of the OF signature then move on to the bigger stuff, you will appreciate both bourbons more, than if you drank them alone.
Good point about the comparison. For me it's a great training bourbon - something to help identify characteristics of bourbon whiskey. Solid, but not exceptional.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lazer
OF BIB, on the other hand, is some good stuff. It's loaded with old-bourbon rummy flavors and well worth grabbing if you happen to find some. While I think BF is producing an acceptable pour with Signature, it's no replacement for the BIB.
My experience is that it is good bourbon but unremarkable. Looking back on my notes I don't really see anything that stands out. The last bottle I had showed bit of a bitter edge, as I recall. I think that typically it's exactly what an under-$20 bottle ought to be: good enough. My impression of the flavor profile is that it is very middle of the road. If I wanted to introduce a newbie to bourbon I might start with this. It lacks the funkiness of Beam and the grassiness of Heaven Hill. It's just bourbon, as it should be.
I like to vat it with Beam rye at about 3:2... I know, I'm weird that way.
This was a big favorite of mine early on but I don't find myself drinking it much anymore. I think it's a fine bourbon at a good price, but it's not something I find myself yearing for, like VOB or HH white label.
Like Wild Turkey, it's a classic profile that anybody starting out should try and be familiar with. I also think it's a pretty cool thing that it's a pre-prohibition brand and the same company that started started Old Forester still makes it.
It is certainly to Brown -Forman's credit they have kept this brand alive when so many others have fallen by the wayside.
Have not had this in a couple of months and around here it isn't as easy to find as a number of other comparable products (e.g. Wild Turkey 101, Knob Creek). But I preferred the Signature to all of these. I also preferred the OF Signature to VOB BIB, but not by much. After given appropriate air time, it reminded me of Woodford Reserve with a little more attitude and complexity. Two thumbs up from me. Now I gotta find myself another bottle!
I just picked up a bottle a week ago. Literally, New Year's Eve. Back in the late 1980s, Old Forester BIB was my favorite bourbon for mixing - a splash in root beer was sublime - but at the $25 I paid for Signature I'm not really doing that. It still tastes like Forester, though, even though I think it's a slightly thicker, "chewier" pour than it once was. Which, in my book, is an improvement. I like thick, chewy whisky. :)
I do wish they'd research their own history a little better, though. The whole concept of "Old Forester Signature" is marketeering eyewash; George Garvin Brown's signature never appeared on the label during his lifetime. (See results number 2 and 5 at http://books.google.com/books?id=KRw...q=brown+forman . This is from 1914, three years before he died. Oddly, Old Forester's being "a blend of old Kentucky whiskies" would have precluded its being bottled in bond at the time. )
Current Signature is a solid enough Bourbon, IMHO. Nothing more, nothing less. While I didn't feel ripped off, there wasn't enough distinctiveness to make me drop $25 on another bottle.
Dimpled BIB is another story. Both DSP-414 and 354 are outstanding, loaded with that candied "rummy" sweetness already referenced. I never leave any dimpled bottles on a shelf.