Review: Old Forester The 117 Series – Warehouse I Barrels
Review: Old Forester The 117 Series – Warehouse I Barrels
Four years ago Old Forester dropped a special edition in its 117 series composed of barrels drawn from its well-regarded Warehouse K. Now it’s back with another warehouse-specific pick: Warehouse I. Warehouse I is an 11 year old bourbon pulled from barrels that have been heat-cycled since their interment in the warehouse and were picked exclusively from the hottest floors of the rickhouse.
Note that while Warehouse K was bottled at 110 proof, Warehouse I hits the bottle at 95 proof.
Old Forester The 117 Series – Warehouse I Barrels Review
Hot warehouses are known for making flavorful whiskey, and this release is a killer proof point of that. It’s honestly a flavor bomb from the start, killing it with a nose of sweet tea and apricots, but layered with plenty of toasty barrel char. Both sweet and savory keep each other in check, and, for what it’s worth, it noses as considerably hotter than its 47.5% abv.
The palate is the fruit bomb telegraphed by the nose, again building on apricot notes with peach and baked apple elements. Crusty pie dough gives the whiskey a grainy, cereal-adjacent quality, and a sprinkle of sea salt is evident to help balance out the sweetness. It’s not particularly spicy until the finish, which sees a bit of cinnamon rounding out notes of milk chocolate and a late-game hint of rum raisin.
Tasted from a small sample, this is one of those whiskeys I’d love to explore in much further depth… alas, it’ll probably be gone before you know it.
95 proof.
A / $65 (375ml) [BUY IT NOW FROM FROOTBAT]
Old Forester The 117 Series - Warehouse I Barrels
USD65
