Old Forester Takes President's Choice Nationwide with a Bourbon and a Rye
Previously a distillery exclusive, Old Forester President’s Choice bourbon is now available nationwide—along with its new rye partner
June 5, 2025 –––––– Danny Brandon
Distillery-exclusive expressions are something of a double-edged sword for whiskey lovers. For the truly dedicated followers of a particular brand, there’s a lot to get excited about—namely, the prospect of scoring a new release while paying a visit to their favorite distillery. But fans who aren’t able to make that trip must choose between overpaying on the secondary market or doing without.
Kentucky distillery Old Forester has found a way to make sure both groups go home happy. The distillery has announced that its popular President’s Choice series, which has historically been a distillery-only release, will be available for nationwide distribution for the first time. The national debut, which also includes the first rye whiskey in the series, will take place this month.
Casting a Wider Net
President’s Choice whiskeys have always been hard to find. The first President’s Choice expression was made in 1890, when Old Forester president George Garvin Brown personally selected a single barrel bourbon as a gift to the governor of Kentucky. But the series as we know it today got its official start in 1964, when Old Forester started selling single barrel bourbons picked by Brown’s grandson. At the time it was very limited in scope and ultimately short-lived, and was retired only eight years after its debut. But in 2018, the series was resurrected to celebrate the opening of Old Forester’s distillery on Louisville’s Whiskey Row, and it has been a distillery-exclusive expression at that location ever since. This year’s move to nationwide distribution aims to make the series accessible to whiskey drinkers outside Kentucky.
Aside from the wider availability, this year’s release is different because it features the first-ever President’s Choice single barrel rye alongside the usual bourbon. Like many of Old Forester’s other ryes, this one has the historic Normandy mashbill (65% rye, 20% malted barley, and 15% corn) which dates back to the 1940s. Both whiskeys are pulled from casks aged between 7–9 years, and bottled between 110 and 125 proof. Naturally, as these are single barrel offerings, the precise age and proof point will differ from bottle to bottle. According to the distillery, master taster Melissa Rift and assistant master distiller Caleb Trigo settled on each specific proof point as a means of highlighting specific flavors found in each barrel.
The whiskeys are set to arrive at select retailers across the country this month, each with a suggested retail price of $225 a bottle. Starting on June 14th at 10 a.m. EST, Old Forester will release a limited quantity of bottles for purchase at the distillery and on its online store with shipping to Kentucky, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, and Washington D.C.
New Landscape
In recent times, we’ve seen several whiskey makers widen the availability of some highly allocated releases. Back in January, Old Forester’s sister distillery Woodford Reserve performed a similar maneuver by taking its distillery-exclusive Double Double Oaked nationwide for the first time ever. Just a few days ago, we exclusively reported that Heaven Hill was doing something similar: introducing a new permanent Old Fitzgerald bourbon, which will be available year-round alongside the usual annual batches.
These decisions are largely due to a build-up of aged liquid across the whiskey industry, most of which was laid down around a decade ago. Back then, the whiskey industry was caught off guard by the rise in demand, which many producers just didn’t have enough inventory to meet. Faced with a shortage, many distillers started ramping up production.
Those stocks now occupy a landscape that looks very different. Sales have softened, and many distilleries are looking for ways to move inventory. Some have found a solution by whipping their unicorns into work horses—allocating sufficient inventory to ramp up the batch volume for some of their most exclusive expressions, and whisky lovers are the beneficiaries.
The introduction of President’s Choice rye expression exemplifies that strategy. It was hinted back in March, when Old Forester rolled out its very first bottled in bond rye. At the time, the distillery confirmed that bonded expression was the first of many forthcoming rye releases, pulled from a stockpile of rye barrels Old Forester had laid down some time ago.
Old Forester’s announcement of President’s Choice now being available nationwide is sure to make many fans happy, but the new batches do come with a caveat. While the suggested retail price has held steady at $225, this year’s batches are noticeably younger than last year’s release, accounting for an age range of 7–9 years, compared to the wider 7–12 year range seen in 2024’s release. The tradeoff is that 2025’s batches do feature slightly higher proof, with a maximum of 125 compared to last year’s 120.
