This special 150th anniversary bottle of Old Forester bourbon will set you back $2,500

The latest holy grail for bourbon imbibers: a $2,500 bottle celebrating Old Forester's 150th Anniversary.

Old Forester is selling 150 special decanters of 12½-year-old bourbon starting Thursday, Nov. 16, only at oldforester.com. The decanters come in a handmade box made from wood recovered from the 2015 fire on Louisville's historic Whiskey Row. Purchasers can only pick up the bottle on Dec. 5, the anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition, at the Old Forester distillery in downtown Louisville, Kentucky.

Buyers also get a tour of the distillery, plus cocktails and appetizers with members of the Brown family, which owns Brown-Forman, the corporation with brands including Jack Daniels, Herradura and other spirits and wines.

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What's special about the Old Forester 150th Anniversary bourbon whiskey?

Old Forester calls this limited $2,500 bourbon the "rarest bottle it's every produced."

Back in April 2008, Master Distiller Chris Morris hand-selected six barrels for the bourbon, which was bottled 150 months later. Most of the resulting 500 bottles were meant for members of the Brown family and key partners of the company, according to Old Forester.

But the 150 remaining bottles were set aside for special tastings and company events. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, those bottles remained in storage, the company said.

“Old Forester is the only bourbon to exist before, during, and after Prohibition – and what better way to celebrate that legacy than offering to the public this rare decanter,” said Old Forester Master Taster Melissa Rift.

Old Forester founder George Garvin Brown created the first bottled bourbon in 1870. During Prohibition, Old Forester was one of few distillers given a permit to sell and make whiskey for medicinal purposes.

On its label, Old Forester is called "Straight Bourbon Whisky,” using the spelling of "whiskey" without the "e" as does Scotch whisky, to pay homage to Brown's Scottish roots.

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