Walk into any decent liquor store in America and you'll find shelves lined with bourbon bottles, each one promising something special. But there's one bottle sitting there that's been doing this longer than any other – and most people walk right past it without knowing they're looking at a piece of living history.
Old Forester doesn't have the flashy marketing of some brands or the cult following of others, but it holds a record that no other bourbon can touch. It's the oldest continuously bottled bourbon in America, and it's the only one that's been sold by the same company without interruption since it first appeared. That includes making it through Prohibition when most distilleries had to shut their doors.
The brand has been producing bourbon for more than 150 years now, starting way back in 1870. The distillery has changed over the decades, and so have some of their products, but the core of what made Old Forester special back then is still there today. Next time you see that familiar bottle at a bar or store, you're looking at something that's weathered every storm the American whiskey industry has faced – and there have been plenty.
A Pharmacist's Gamble in Kentucky
The story starts in Louisville, Kentucky, on what's now known as Whiskey Row. If you visit today, you'll see "1870" painted at the top of the Old Forester building, marking the year George Garvin Brown decided to do something different with bourbon.
Brown wasn't a distiller himself. He was a pharmaceutical salesman who saw an opportunity. Back in 1870, most bourbon got sold straight from the barrel. You'd walk into a store with your own container, and they'd fill it up for you. Quality was all over the map because there was no way to ensure consistency. Brown thought there had to be a better way.
His solution was straightforward but revolutionary for the time. He sourced bourbon barrels from three different distilleries near Louisville – Mattingly, Mellwood, and Atherton. He blended them together, bottled the result in glass at 90 proof, and sold it as a consistent product. The glass bottles meant customers could see what they were getting, and the blending process meant every bottle tasted the same.
Brown named his bourbon after Dr. William Forrester, a Civil War surgeon. According to whiskey historians, he dropped one of the R's from the doctor's name to make it catchier for customers. Sometimes the best marketing decisions are the simplest ones.
For nearly three decades, Brown stuck with his 90 proof formula. Then in 1897, the U.S. government passed the Bottled in Bond Act, which set new standards for American whiskey. Brown adjusted, bumping Old Forester up to 100 proof to meet the changing market.
The Prohibition Years
When Prohibition hit in 1920, it looked like the end for American whiskey. Distilleries across the country shut down. Warehouses sat empty. Jobs disappeared. The entire industry seemed finished.
But Old Forester found a loophole. The government allowed a handful of distilleries to keep operating if they produced whiskey for medicinal purposes. Doctors could write prescriptions for it, and pharmacies could dispense it. Out of all the distilleries in America, only six managed to get these permits. Old Forester was one of them.
While other brands either stopped production entirely or tried to restart after Prohibition ended in 1933, Old Forester never stopped. Not for a single day. That unbroken chain of production is what sets it apart from every other bourbon brand in America. Other distilleries might be older or have different claims to fame, but none can say they've been continuously produced and sold by the same company for this long.
Keeping The Old Ways Alive
The folks running Old Forester today haven't forgotten where they came from. If you want to taste something close to what George Garvin Brown was bottling in 1870, you can pick up a bottle of their 1870 Original Batch.
Modern distillers can't do things exactly the way Brown did – they don't source barrels from other distilleries anymore. But they've kept the core concept alive. Just like Brown selected barrels from three different places, today's Old Forester distillers select barrels from three different warehouses at their facility. They blend them together using similar techniques, trying to recreate that original flavor profile.
The difference between warehouses might not sound like much, but it matters. Bourbon ages differently depending on where the barrel sits. Temperature, humidity, airflow – all of it affects the final product. By pulling from three different warehouses, Old Forester's distillers are still doing what Brown did: creating complexity through careful blending.
What You'll Find On Shelves Today
Old Forester has expanded well beyond that original recipe. As of early 2026, their website lists 17 different whiskeys, though finding all of them might require some hunting.
The most common bottle you'll see is their 86 proof version. It shows up in a lot of bar wells – that bottom row of bottles bartenders reach for when making mixed drinks. It's also their most affordable offering. Despite being a budget option, it's got a reputation among whiskey drinkers as a bottom-shelf bottle that punches above its weight class.
There's also a 100 proof version that's similar to the 1870 Original Batch but doesn't follow the exact same batching process. The differences are subtle, but bourbon drinkers who pay attention will notice.
Then things get interesting with Old Forester's Whiskey Row Series. These bottles are named after different years, but not because they were made then. Each one represents a specific moment or technique from the distillery's history.
Take the 1910 version. In 1910, there was a fire on Old Forester's bottling line. The incident led to some barrels getting a second round of aging, which created a smoother, cleaner whiskey. Today's 1910 recreates that happy accident on purpose, running the bourbon through a second barreling process.
The distillery also does special releases tied to particular events or anniversaries. These are the hardest bottles to find because they produce them in limited quantities. If you're serious about collecting, you need to stay on top of when these releases drop.
What Makes It Different
In an industry dominated by marketing budgets and celebrity endorsements, Old Forester takes a different approach. They're not trying to be the coolest or most exclusive bourbon on the shelf. They're leaning into their history and their consistency.
The whiskey industry has changed dramatically over the past few decades. Bourbon went from a spirit your grandfather drank to something trendy, with rare bottles selling for thousands of dollars and new distilleries opening constantly. Through all of it, Old Forester has just kept doing what they've always done.
That consistency matters. When you pick up a bottle of Old Forester, you're getting something that's been refined over more than a century and a half. The distillers aren't experimenting wildly or chasing trends. They're making bourbon the way they've learned works, with adjustments only when they improve the product.
A Living Piece Of History
There's something satisfying about drinking a bourbon that's been around longer than almost anything else in American manufacturing. Most companies that started in 1870 are long gone. Those that survived often got bought out, merged with competitors, or completely changed what they make.
Old Forester is still owned by Brown-Forman, the company George Garvin Brown founded. They're still making bourbon in Kentucky. They're still selling it in bottles. The fundamentals haven't changed even as everything around them has.
The whiskey industry will keep evolving. New brands will emerge. Marketing campaigns will come and go. Trends will shift. But when you walk into a liquor store 20 years from now, there's a good chance Old Forester will still be sitting on that shelf, doing what it's been doing since Ulysses S. Grant was president.
That kind of staying power is rare in any industry. In the world of bourbon, it's almost unheard of. The next time you're at a bar looking at the brown bottles on the shelf, take a second look at the Old Forester. You're looking at the one that started it all – and somehow, it's still here.
