Old Forester is a brand of Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey produced by the Brown-Forman Corporation. It is officially the longest running Bourbon on the market today (approximately 145 years as of 2016) and was the first bourbon sold exclusively in sealed bottles. It was first bottled and marketed in 1870 by the former pharmaceutical salesman turned bourbon-merchant George Garvin Brown – the founder of the Brown-Forman Corporation (whose descendants still manage the company). During the Prohibition period from 1920 to 1933, it was one of only 10 brands authorized for lawful production (for medicinal purposes).
Old Forester is produced under the supervision of Master Distiller Chris Morris (as of 2006) at the Brown-Forman distillery in Shively, Kentucky (which is located directly adjacent to the pre-merger Southwest boundary of Louisville) using a mash bill of 72% corn (maize), 18% rye, and 10% malted barley (the same mash bill used for Woodford Reserve).