Old Forester’s 2026 Birthday Bourbon Is a Return to Form

Welcome to Taste Test, where every week our critic Jonah Flicker explores the most buzzworthy and interesting whiskeys in the world. Check back each Sunday for his latest whiskey review.

If you’re a whiskey fan, you’re probably acutely it’s not just the leaves that start dropping in the fall—this is the time of year when some of the most highly collectible unicorns of the bourbon world also appear. One of those is Old Forester’s Birthday Bourbon, but this annual release seems to have been overshadowed by other brands like BTAC, Pappy Van Winkle, and Four Roses in recent years. The 2026 edition of Birthday Bourbon is a return to form, however, because this year’s edition is one of the best in recent memory.

First, a little bit of background. Birthday Bourbon first came out in 2002, making this year’s bottling the 26th version of this annual whiskey (it was released twice in 2003). The bourbon varies in terms of proof and age each year—the strongest release came out in 2024 at 107 proof, and the weakest in 2003 at 89 proof; the oldest arrived in 2006 at 13 years, and the youngest in 2004 at just eight years old. This year’s release was aged for 11 years and bottled at 97 proof, which is sort of in the mid-range of those stats, And, as we previously reported, there is one unique tidbit that makes it stand out. According to the brand, the new-make spirit was stored in the cistern room for longer than usual before barreling because of a holiday, so the entry proof was reduced from 125 to 124.4.

That’s a very minor difference, but in whiskey even a slight drop in alcohol content can have a noticeable effect on the flavor, whether you’re talking entry proof or bottling proof. I asked Old Forester assistant master distiller Caleb Trigo about this, and he explained a bit of the chemistry behind this. “It’s something that can affect flavor development because it means there’s a different ratio of ethanol to water in the barrel, which affects solubility,” he said. “That affects how much vanillin and lignin is absorbed from the barrel staves over time… As we like to say, ‘production happens.’ Things don’t always go as planned.”

Of course, there’s no way I or anyone else can really tell what that effect of this lower entry proof was without tasting identical samples side-by-side which were entered into barrels at different proofs. And even then there are so many other factors at play, especially in terms of maturation (the barrels for this release were aged on the third floor of Warehouse B at Brown-Forman’s Shively distillery).

Whatever the case, I really enjoyed this year’s Birthday Bourbon, and I actually think that it’s much better than the past few years’ releases (which weren’t bad by any means, they just didn’t necessarily stand out). The age and proof are in the sweet spots of strength and maturation, and the result is a vibrant but still very rich bourbon that earns its place as a collectible fall release. There is much more spice present on the palate than usual, and that’s a good thing, with flavors ranging from black pepper to cinnamon to cardamom. There’s also a really yummy and nostalgic (at least for me) cream soda note that stood out, something that I don’t often get from bourbon in general, along with flavors like grape jelly, pecan pie, leather, and a hint of menthol (again, a welcome note that balances out the sweetness).

This year’s Birthday Bourbon is listed at $200 per bottle, but expect to pay much more than that if you find one. We’re not talking Pappy 23 prices here, but a quick search reveals bottles of past releases going for somewhere between $600 and $1,000 on the secondary market. As always, it’s up to you to decide whether or not a whiskey like this is worth paying that premium, but it’s certainly a bottle worth hunting down if you’re in the mood to splurge.

Score: 91