Old Forester Kentucky Straight Bourbon (175cl, 43%)

This is Old Forester, a Kentucky bourbon at 43% ABV, in a large 1.75 litre bottle. The whiskey comes from Brown-Forman's Shively distillery, where the mash is 72% corn, 18% rye and 10% malted barley and the barrels are air-seasoned and charred to level 4. Old Forester dates from 1870. The Brown brothers named it for a local doctor who prescribed the whiskey to his patients, and it became the first bourbon sold exclusively in bottles instead of barrels, which assured buyers that nothing had been altered in transit. Its character is generally described as sweetly spiced and mellow.