Tag Archives: whisky

Leading up to last year’s holiday season my inbox was flooded with tacky booze marketing emails and I lashed out with this rant against Old Forester Bourbon and a few others. Though I did disclose the fact I have never tasted Old Forester before, and my issue was with the marketing, a few folks in the business felt they should defend the brand. Svend Jansen, public relations manager for Old Forester, saw this as an opportunity to send Swigs a sample. And who are we to refuse free booze?

Since we figured to be in full evaluation mode when tasting Old Forester it only made sense to put it into some context. So we collected the various bourbons we had laying around, which turned out to be a decent cross section of the market, and with fellow booze bon vivant, Steve Kirsch, decided to find out how Old Forester compares to what we’ve been drinking. To neutralize any preconceived notions we might have had about the brands, we tasted all of the bourbons in a blind format diluted with a small amount of water. What we determined might surprise you.

Susannah Nichols was on-hand to arrange and pour the samples. All prices are Michigan minimum shelf price for a 750ml glass bottle.

Buffalo Trace ($23.96)

Todd: With a nose full of pecans, peaches, driftwood and marshmallow this was the clear champion of the tasting. Sweet in the middle with a slightly dry finish it would make both a nice sipping whiskey and a killer cocktail.

Evan: Big vanilla, nut, and even creamy aromas. There’s a bit of bitterness in the mid-palate, but it’s hardly displeasing, and it’s washed away by a silky textured finish. For the money, this is an absolute killer value. Notably better than anything above or below its price point in our tasting.

Woodford Reserve ($34.96)

Todd: Less intensely aromatic than Buffalo Trace but a bit fruitier, Woodford Reserve is smooth throughout a draught and plenty good for sipping.

Evan: Noticeably darker in the glass, the Woodford has quite a bit of vanilla both on the nose and the palate. I agree with Todd’s assessment that this is fruitier, though I’d add “caramel” to the mix as well. This might be a bit intense for precisely measured Manhattans and the like.

Old Forester ($16.98)

Todd: Good middle-shelf bourbon. Though it’s unlikely that I would ever use this as a sipping bourbon under normal circumstances, there is no doubt that it would perform well as a cocktail base without emptying the wallet. Flatter than the previous two with more sensation of wood and just the slightest hint of plastic

Evan: I’ve always liked surprises. If there’s a Crayola crayon called “Humble Pie,” color me up with that, because this was markedly better than I expected. Noticeably less vanilla on the nose than the previous offerings, it nonetheless showed more of the vanilla on the palate. That said, aside from a bit of Band-Aid and Booze Burn, there’s less going on here than the clear winners in our test, but of the five we tasted, this stood head and shoulders above the bottom two. If one has the means to buy a better product, I can’t recommend leaning down to the lower shelf to grab this. But if not, this is as fine as one can get in the price point. So surprises? Yeah. I got as much of a chuckle out of Todd’s previous Old Forester rant as anyone, and the marketing for the product is still a cliche, but this works.

Maker’s Mark ($26.99)

Todd: Especially considering the price, I have always considered Maker’s Mark an inferior whiskey. Tasting it blind in comparison confirmed this notion. Medicinal alcohol fumes overwhelm the diminutive bourbon aromas. There are far too many superior bourbon brands at this price level to waste your hard earned coin on Maker’s Mark.

Evan: When I decided to wholeheartedly re-enter the whiskey universe, the first bourbon of which I purchased a whole bottle was Maker’s. It had a pretty sterling reputation, after all, and who isn’t a sucker for a waxed top bottle? Our blind tasting set me straight, however: Big sugar sweet and plastic aromas overwhelm any sense of natural grain alcohol, and while there’s a bit of a spicy characteristic to the drink, the finish is weak, over-run by a rank bitterness. On one hand, the flavors are long, carrying through to the finish. On the other hand, those flavors suck.

Evan Williams Black Label ($11.77):

Todd: This bottle was brought to (and left over from) a party last Halloween. While decent for swilling directly from the bottle around a backyard fire in autumn it’s not something we normally keep around the house. With powerful aromas of rubbing alcohol, burning plastic and oily wood pulp it’s cheap and it shows. That being said, its more refined brother, Evan Williams Single Barrel Vintage bourbon, is my house whiskey for sipping and cocktails.

Evan: This was the one bourbon we unanimously guessed: It lives up to its price point as an appalling, offensive creation that makes one wonder how humanity ever decided that the distillation of alcohol was a worthwhile activity. Foul on the nose, it displays very pungent aromas of trash heap and salt lick, neither of which carry through to the palate. Lest one think that’s a good thing, it’s replaced by a grassy, burnt, bitter sensation over over-brewed tea and aggressive alcohol. Dilute this. A lot.

We had originally planned to evaluate the lesser bourbons as cocktail base booze and actually did mix Old Forester with bitters and Stock sweet vermouth for a Manhattan cocktail but a few circumstances diverted our attention: 1) Since Carpano Antica sweet vermouth made it to the Detroit market it’s difficult to drink a Manhattan crafted with anything but, and more importantly, 2) we had a slew of blended Irish and single malt Scotch whiskeys to taste through. This particular Manhattan had no chance under these conditions.