Why I love Old Forester bourbon
Many of you are well familiar with my love for Old Forester bourbon. I post about them constantly on Twitter, every performance is “brought to you by Old Forester,” I wear their t-shirts, I always have a glass with me on #DerdaFest, and I even have a Old Forester Barrel ornament on my Christmas tree. However, you may not be familiar with the story of how I came to love this particular brand of Kentucky bourbon. My love affair began one Christmas a while back, so this is the perfect time to share the story.
My Old Forester barrel Christmas tree ornament
If you’ve heard any of my music, you know that Kentucky is always a huge theme, both lyrically and musically. My mom’s family is from Eastern Kentucky, the real coal mining part of Kentucky. The day my grandfather graduated from High School in Dorton, KY, he filled a shopping bag with this clothes (because he didn’t own a suitcase) and hitchhiked his way up north to go work at the car factories in Detroit. He worked various factory jobs around Ohio and Michigan and would eventually join the Marines. It was while he was on a short leave that went back to Eastern Kentucky and met my Grandmother one night. They were married about a week later and she joined him where he was stationed in Virginia. My Grandfather got an education in the military and worked his way up the corporate ladder and lived for many years in Connecticut, close his corporate HQ in White Plains, NY. I grew up living 5 minutes away from his house.
After he retired, my grandparents decided to move back to Kentucky and found a 5 acre property in heart of horse country right outside of Lexington. My family moved from Connecticut as well, first to West Virginia and then to Cincinnati, OH to be closer to them. Every year we would drive 2 hours to their house for Christmas dinner. Eventually, I moved to Chicago to study improv comedy, but would always drive back every holiday to be in Kentucky for Christmas Day.
A few years ago, after dinner we were all hanging out in the kitchen and my Grandfather asked if I wanted to go out to the garage with him to get an Ale 8 in the fridge. Ale 8 One (meant to sound like A Late One because of all of the caffeine) is a carbonated beverage that is kind of like ginger ale. It’s hard to get outside of Kentucky and the bottling facility was about a mile from my grandparents’ house. I thought it was weird that he asked me to go out to the garage with him, I was in my 20s and could get a drink out of the fridge on my own. I went with him anyway. Glad I did.
We got out to the garage and he says, “You want some bourbon?” It all made sense now. Of course I said yes. I opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of Old Forest that was in the back with just a little bit of bourbon left in it. My grandfather goes, “Not that one. I keep that in the fridge almost empty so she doesn’t know I’m drinking it.” He was talking about my grandmother. She came from a family of very, very evangelical Christians. You weren’t allowed to drink, talk about drinking, or think about drinking. My grandfather didn’t drink too much, he just wanted to have a glass every now and then, but even that was frowned upon. In order to avoid fighting with her, he would just hide all of his vices from her.
He went over to his big red Craftsman tool chest, opened the large bottom drawer and pulled out a handle of Old Forester. That was a place he knew my grandmother would never look. She never used a tool. Then he went over to the electrical box, opened the door and inside were two shot glasses. He poured us shots and we cheers and drank them together.
I asked him about Old Forester bourbon and he explained it wasn’t the most expensive or hard to find but it is good and affordable. When he lived in Louisville for a short time, the building he worked in was right next to Brown Forman, the company that makes Old Forester. He said that’s the brand he would drink if he was drinking. I grabbed and Ale 8 and we went back into the house.
At the time, I wasn’t what I call a sophisticated drinker. I mostly drank alcohol with a mixer because I didn’t like the taste. From that moment Old Forester became my drink of choice and I’ve been drinking it straight on the rocks ever since. I love the taste. I don’t drink wine, I don’t drink beer, I drink Old Forester.
A couple of years ago I was able to take my grandfather to the Old Forester distillery, right by where he worked in Louisville. We took a tour of the facility with our family including his 2 year old great-granddaughter. It was one of the best days of my life.
My Grandfather, Dad, me, and my uncle in the Old Forester tasting room
If you ever get the chance to go on the Kentucky bourbon trail, I’m sure all of the tours are pretty much the same. They’ll talk about the difference between bourbon and whisky, the distilling process, how it is basically moonshine before it is put in barrels, etc. But Old Forester is the best tour to go on because they have never been out of production, even during prohibition. The tour takes place in the historic downtown Louisville building of the company that created the first bottled bourbon. It’s amazing.