In the lineage of bourbon whiskey, there are many storied brands and distilleries. But few can claim to have uninterrupted sales, even through Prohibition.
Hailing from Louisville, Kentucky, Old Forester has the longest unbroken operation of any bourbon brand in the country: since 1870. During Prohibition, its parent company Brown-Forman was one of the only companies permitted to sell whiskey for medicinal purposes.
This week, Old Forester is announcing the latest entry in one of its most prestigious series ever, and you might actually be able to nab a bottle (or two).
The original single-barrel bourbon
Long before Blanton’s popularized the idea of single-barrel bottlings in the ‘80s, Old Forester had its own version. Starting in 1946, the company’s president George Garvin Brown II would hand-pick exquisite barrels to bottle as gifts for employees and VIPs.
It wasn’t until the late ‘60s that the brand decided to release these commercially, with a catch. In order to purchase a bottle of the “President’s Choice,” you had to purchase the entire barrel outright. It wasn’t too dissimilar to today’s barrel select programs.
