Old Forester 86 Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whisky
@Clark Well, I'd never sampled this one but was recently gifted a bottle.
Decent, fer' sure, fer' sure but I must be spoiled by their Statesman and 1920 Prohibition offerings. Worth the extra dollars to me. My $0.02
On a related note... I'd never noticed before that Old Forester breaks with tradition and uses the Whisky, sans "E", spelling. Which would otherwise be taken to mean it was Scotch or Canadian. Hmm.... Must be a story there....
And on yet another related note... The astute may have noticed that Clyde Mays has labeled their whiskey "Bourbon" even though it's produced in Alabama. I'd always been told that such were fightin' words for Kentuckians. Jack Daniels, for example, is labeled "Tennessee Sour Mash Whiskey". The take home being that Bourbon can be make anywhere, but only labeled Bourbon if from Kentucky.
I was not all that educated about the subject but was guessing the surging popularity of Bourbon post 2008 great depression's inflationary effect on the price of single malt scotch has everyone wanting to get into the game. And I guess they have no problem "breaking the rules" and calling their products bourbon. Got to leverage that marketing buzz, after all.
Inquiring minds are curious. Fast forward to modern times so I hit the 'Net.
Schnay, schnay, schnay, I say! Seems it's only the rule for folks from Kentucky. The Beverage Alcohol Manual pontificates thusly in Chapter 4:
"Whisky produced in the U.S. at not exceeding 80 percent alcohol by volume (160 proof) from a fermented mash of not less than 51 percent corn and stored at not more than 62.5 percent alcohol by volume (125 proof) in charred new oak containers."
No mention of being limited to Kentucky. Note that the BAM also uses the "Whisky" spelling when talking about all whiskies. Ignorance or?? In any case, since this stuff goes way, way back and Old Forester was (I think) the only distillery allowed to produce during prohibition era, that compliance with gov'mint regulations may explain their use of the Whisky spelling.
So, geronimo! There ya' go! Big medicine!