Sunday, November 30, 2008
Food, Wine, Beer & Spirits, "Behind the Bar"

Old Forester celebrates 75th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition

The release of Repeal Bourbon, a one-time, limited-release bourbon

Chris Morris, Old Forester

By Hope S. Philbrick

The 21st amendment to the U.S. Constitution put an end to Prohibition on Dec. 5, 1933. In honor of this landmark 75th anniversary, Old Forester has released Repeal Bourbon, a one-time, limited-release bourbon packaged in a mock circa-1933 bottle with a replica label. Old Forester bourbon has been produced for 135 years and is the only bourbon legally produced and sold before, during and after Prohibition. From 1920 to 1933, its distillers held one of only 10 government permits that allowed production of bourbon for medicinal purposes. The Sunday Paper recently met with Master Distiller Chris Morris to learn more about Old Forester.

Q How did Old Forester get started?
A George Garvin Brown worked for a pharmaceutical company as a salesman on the street; he sold bourbon whiskey as medicine. But in those days, all bourbon wasn’t good, it wasn’t consistent. He heard complaints from his customers who were doctors, pharmacists and dentists. He had this great idea to buy bourbon by the barrel from the distillers, batch it together to create a consistent flavor profile, and then put it in a bottle and sell it only by the bottle for a guarantee of consistency. He handwrote a guarantee and his signature on every bottle. Old Forester became America’s first bottled bourbon in 1870.

When Prohibition was enforced, there were more than 200 distilling operations in Kentucky alone—all put out of business in one fell swoop. But Uncle Sam had created a permit system, and allowed 10 companies to receive a permit to bottle existing stocks of bourbon and rye whiskey as medicine during Prohibition. Six of those permits were enacted—not all 10, because back in 1920, what’s the future of the whiskey business? A lot of people didn’t sign up; they left the business behind. But Brown-Forman did not have that attitude. So Brown-Forman asked for and received one of those permits and continued to bottle Old Forester all through Prohibition. As the whiskey stocks declined in 1929, Uncle Sam gave those six permit holders permission to distill for 100 days, and so Brown-Forman went to the distillery and produced Old Forester. The master distiller had been working in a grocery store since Prohibition started. He had to capture wild yeast to ferment the mash. Since we are the only distilling company that’s been in existence since then, the Old Forester strain of yeast is the oldest strain of yeast in the industry.

Why the name “Old Forester”?
George Garvin’s last name was Brown, it might as well have been Smith or Jones—he had a name problem. If he named his new product “Old Brown,” who would buy it? His silent partner was his employer, and that’s who was really staking a lot of money in the concept to get it going. They thought they needed to get someone to endorse the product, someone who really had marquis name value. They ended up going to Dr. William Forrester, who was really the rock-star doctor in Louisville at the time. He was a war hero and agreed to let them use his name. When Old Forrester was launched in 1870, “old” didn’t mean that Dr. Forrester was old—he was about 40 years old at the time. “Old” was, in the vernacular of the time, “good.” It meant mature bourbon. We do see a name change because the original labels spelled it Forrester—with two Rs—because that’s how Dr. Forrester spelled his name. But he retired around 1890, to draw his Civil War pension, and when he left the active medical profession, George Garvin Brown no longer had a doctor endorsing his product. He dropped that R because Old Forester had become an established brand with value in the marketplace.

What’s the flavor profile of Old Forester Repeal Bourbon?
Repeal Bourbon is bottled from a special selection of Old Forester barrels that exhibited a more robust character that is similar to the Old Forester that was bottled during Prohibition. The flavor is a full, deep, charred oak character that will appeal to bourbon-lovers everywhere. SP
The Old Forester Repeal Bourbon gift pack includes a scroll of the 21st Amendment ending Prohibition, an Old Forester snifter and an Old Forester pen. Repeal Bourbon is 100-proof and has a suggested retail price of $24.99. Only 1,350 cases were produced. For more information, visit www.oldforester.com/repeal.