Old Forester (86 proof)

[Randy_Ricchi]

Just bought a bottle of this stuff, because Jim Murray gave it high marks and it was cheap. My opinion is that Jim Murray had palate fatigue when he gave his review, because this stuff is vile, harsh, and damn near undrinkable. It has a sweet, solvent like harshness that to me is unbearable. As soon as I tried it I was worried that maybe I had a liter bottle on my hands rather than a fifth :^)

How do you feel about this bourbon? It may be good for thinning varnish.

[smokinjoe]

I'll admit that I like the 100 proof better than the 86, but vile, harsh, undrinkable and solvent like? Sounds like Thompson's Water Seal, rather than the OF. I think maybe you got a bad bottle or something, because my experience has been that this is a pretty good pour. Particularly when you factor in the price. I think you should give it another shot from the bottle, and if that fails, another bottle may be in order. Good luck!

JOE

[Rughi]

Randy,

Your taste buds told you the same as our West Coast study group told us about a year ago when we tasted a current 100 proofer of Forester. It was the least drinkable bottle we've ever sampled, with the same comparisons to solvents.

I cut my teeth on great Old Forester from the late '80s and earlier, and the product from the '90s trended downwards for me, but the current products...well, I just hope I've been getting bad bottles. That seems possible, as the reviews are all over the map on this product in the last few years.

Did you see the Bourbon of the Month Reviews here ? That's a good place to start.

Roger

[hollywood]

I bought a bottle of OF86 a couple of nights ago...I haven't had a chance to partake of any yet, but I will post something in the next day or so....however, I have had this pour in the past, and don't have anything bad to say...I always remember it being more than drinkable and for the nominal price it was a bargain. H'wood

[BobA]

Well, I'd put it aside for a while to see if it changes, or maybe if your taste buds do. That being said, I won't be buying either the 86 or the 100 again. My take isn't as negative as yours, but I was happy to have others drink this on a camping trip.

Bob

[hollywood]

I had a glass of the OF86 tonight neat..while OFBB it is not, it is a better than decent pour for the money or not. I enjoyed its brown-sugar sweetness, and although it still is a bit thin for me, I really have no qualms with this one...reconfirming my experiences with it from the past. Everyone has their opinion, but I hardly find this one in any category in the "vile" range as posted earlier.

[Randy_Ricchi]

The comments about maybe I had a bad bottle are intriguing. I always believed that with all the blending being done by experienced people the chances of getting a bad batch are slim, but a couple years ago while out of town I bought a bottle of a Canadien whiskey on the way to someone's home. I don't remember the brand but it was a brand I had had before and liked.

I usually don't drink Canadien whiskey but have had several brands over the years and find them to be very smooth although not very characterful, but very good to use with mix. That is why I bought this bottle, because I figured others at the home I was going to would like it in a mix with 7-up or Coke.

It was a plastic 1.75 liter bottle, and this had a sweet, kind of citrusy taste more like a liquer than whiskey. Kind of tasted like Yukon Jack or Southern Comfort, but with something gone wrong. Come to think of it, this was sort of solvent-like, too. I'm not the only one who noticed this. For awhile I suspected the plastic bottle, but when you think of it, it seems unlikely that they would be using improper plastics to bottle there product in. I must have gotten a bad batch.

Sumbitch, that's two bad bottles in about 3 years!

[jspero]

I tried it in a mini and was not impressed enough to try a bigger bottle. As always, it's possible my taste buds were off (I split it over 2 nights to try to eliminate that). I wouldn't go so far as to say I found it undrinkable, but I won't be in a hurry to try it again. I'll probably try another mini at some point, but some distant point after I've tried everything else.

Jay

[RickHouseMouse]

If it's just a case of a bad bottle, then there's a lot of bad ones going around, because I had the same opinion. I'm not sure I'd go as far as vile and undrinkable, but it was one of the worst bourbons I've had.

This was a great disappointment to me as I was very excited to try OF. It seems to get some good reviews and is frequently mentioned around this forum as a favorite budget pour, so I was expecting to really like it. I'd planned to give the 100'BIB a try as it seems to be liked even better, but after tasting the 86', I'm in no hurry to try any other OF's.

[FlashPuppy]

I am trying a bit of this tonight. I found the first glass to be quite enjoyable. However, I find this second glass to have a LOT of alcohol burn in the nose. I don't say that very often, this is only the second time that i have ever used that as a tasting note.

I think I will try this again tomorrow while my mouth is fresh, and see what happens.