Old Forester Bourbon

Another bottom shelf bourbon to try! But it’s one that isn’t available in Norway at all, so I’m happy to get to try it. Another first for me as well, this will be my first Brown-Forman bourbon… I think. Let’s see how it goes!

Source: Sample from Master of Malt.
Setup: Blind in a trio tasting with Smooth Ambler Old Scout 10yo & Four Roses Small Batch
Drank: Neat, in a Glencairn. Rested 15 minutes.

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Nose: Popcorn, candy, musk, creamed corn—kind of a heady cloying sweetness. Some off-notes of mustiness, vomit, burning plastic. Ugh.
Palate: Thin. No spice. One thin thread of oak.
Finish: Dusty oak with a note of bitterness, peach skin. Impressively unsweet, given what I perceived on the nose. What the hell.
Overall: All over the damn place. Nose was pretty horrid with those plasticy, rubbery notes, but it did improve a heck of a lot on the finish. That made it bearable.

Rating (given blind): 2

Thoughts: Not a great start to my experiences with Brown-Forman then. The finish actually showed some promise but I will be avoiding this one because of the nose. One possibility is that Master of Malt stored their mother bottle incorrectly? I remember reading about incorrect storage introducing some plastic/rubber notes. Either way, not for me. I will give the Statesman a chance though in the future, as that one seems to have been received pretty well. If I really like it, maybe this gets another shot.