Old Forester Birthday Bourbon 2026 is here, and for the first time the release arrives with a jacket. Not a branded merch piece thrown onto a webshop, but a full collaboration with Alpha Industries. The jacket is built on Alpha’s N-1 deck-jacket silhouette with cotton construction and a garment-washed finish, priced at $250 and available from 10 September at Alpha Industries’ New York store and alphaindustries.com. This year’s Birthday Bourbon is an 11-year-old drawn from 212 barrels in Warehouse B, bottled at 97 proof (48.5% ABV) with a suggested retail price of $199.99, sold in limited quantities at select US retailers.
Old Forester has made a jacket. Not a branded merch piece thrown onto a webshop, but a full collaboration with Alpha Industries, the Tennessee outfit that has been cutting military outerwear since 1959.
It is the first time the two brands have worked together, and the timing is deliberate. The jacket drops alongside Old Forester’s annual Birthday Bourbon, the release that marks the birthday of founder George Garvin Brown and functions as the distillery’s yearly flagship moment.
The bourbon is the reason most whisky drinkers will click. The jacket is the reason this one is worth writing about.
What Old Forester and Alpha Industries actually made
The Old Forester x Alpha Industries Distiller’s Jacket is built on Alpha’s N-1 deck-jacket silhouette, the boxy, functional shape that came out of US Navy issue. Old Forester’s brief was a modern take on what a distiller might wear on the warehouse floor, and the detailing leans into the barrel-ageing world rather than just stamping a logo on a coat.
It is cotton, with a dark brown corduroy collar and a garment-washed finish meant to echo the colour and wear of bourbon making. The trim does the storytelling: distressed hardware, custom Old Forester woven labels, a removable sleeve patch, a custom debossed flight ribbon, and interior artwork that you are meant to find over time rather than all at once.
Caleb Trigo, Assistant Master Distiller at Old Forester, framed it as a meeting of two brands built on craft, and Alpha’s Chief Brand Officer Matt Pantoja made the more useful point: the goal was a garment that gets better with age and wear, which is a fair thing to say next to an 11-year-old bourbon.
The 2026 Birthday Bourbon: 11 years old, 97 proof, 212 barrels
This year’s Birthday Bourbon is an 11-year-old expression drawn from 212 barrels on the third floor of Warehouse B, the oldest warehouse at the Brown-Forman Distillery in Shively, Kentucky. It was selected by Master Distiller Emeritus Chris Morris and Assistant Master Distiller Caleb Trigo.
It is bottled at 97 proof, which in the European convention is 48.5% ABV. Old Forester describes a dark brown sugar colour and a sweet, fruity profile.
One small note for readers outside the US who track labelling: Old Forester spells it “whisky” without the e, one of only a handful of American producers that do, a nod to Brown-Forman’s Scottish-influenced house style rather than any legal distinction. It is still, by definition, a Kentucky straight bourbon.
Old Forester’s stated tasting notes
We have not tasted the 2026 Birthday Bourbon yet. The notes below are Old Forester’s official descriptors, not a Daily Whisky tasting. When we get a pour, we will follow up with our own.
Old Forester Birthday Bourbon 2026 stated tasting notes
Nose: classic baking spice, zesty ginger, sweet vanilla bean, honey, malted graham cracker, a hint of cherry
Palate: warm honey, rich buttery caramel, bold tobacco, herbal notes, bright cherry
Finish: toasted oak, subtle graham cracker, lingering herbal mint ABV: 48.5% (97 proof) | Age: 11 years | Price: $199.99
Who Old Forester and Alpha Industries are
Old Forester is Brown-Forman’s founding brand, launched in 1870 by George Garvin Brown. Its claim to fame is a genuine first: it was the world’s first bottled bourbon, sold sealed and signed at a time when bourbon was usually ladled from the barrel and often adulterated. That founding idea, consistency you could trust, is the thread the brand still pulls on, and the Birthday Bourbon is the yearly expression of it.
Alpha Industries started in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1959 as a contractor making technical outerwear for the US military. Over six decades it moved from military supplier to global lifestyle label, and its silhouettes have long since left the base: the MA-1 flight jacket in particular has spent decades in music and fashion. The N-1 deck jacket used here sits in that same archive, which is why the collaboration reads as heritage meeting heritage rather than a spirits brand borrowing some cool.
Price, availability and getting one outside the US
The jacket is $250 and goes on sale on 10 September, in limited quantities, at Alpha Industries’ New York City store and online at alphaindustries.com. Alpha ships internationally through its own site, so this is the more realistic buy for readers in Europe, including Denmark, though duties and shipping will push the landed cost up.
The 2026 Birthday Bourbon is $199.99 at select US retailers nationwide, again in limited quantities. As with every Birthday Bourbon, it is a US release first and foremost. Outside the States it tends to surface through specialist importers and the secondary market, usually well above retail, so European buyers should expect to hunt rather than click.
The verdict
The bourbon is the collectible, the jacket is the story. If you already chase Birthday Bourbon every year, nothing here changes that maths: an 11-year-old at 97 proof for $199.99 is squarely in line with what the release has become, and demand will do the rest.
The jacket is the more interesting call. At $250 it is priced as a real garment, not a novelty, and the N-1 base plus Alpha’s actual military lineage means it should stand on its own even if you never open a bottle of Old Forester. It is for the bourbon fan who also cares about what they wear, and for Alpha collectors who will clock the N-1 reference immediately. Anyone hoping to flip it should note the “limited quantities” line and the single physical store.
If you want either, the date that matters is 10 September for the jacket. The bourbon is out now at US retail while it lasts.
What is the Old Forester x Alpha Industries jacket? It is a limited-edition distiller’s jacket, the first collaboration between bourbon brand Old Forester and outerwear maker Alpha Industries. Built on Alpha’s N-1 deck-jacket silhouette in washed cotton with a corduroy collar, it launches on 10 September 2026 alongside Old Forester’s annual Birthday Bourbon.
How much does the Old Forester x Alpha Industries jacket cost? The jacket has a retail price of $250. It goes on sale on 10 September 2026 in limited quantities, sold at Alpha Industries’ New York City store and online at alphaindustries.com, which ships internationally.
What is Old Forester Birthday Bourbon 2026? It is Old Forester’s annual flagship release, marking founder George Garvin Brown’s birthday. The 2026 edition is an 11-year-old Kentucky straight bourbon drawn from 212 barrels in Warehouse B, bottled at 97 proof (48.5% ABV), with a suggested retail price of $199.99.
What does Old Forester Birthday Bourbon 2026 taste like? Per Old Forester’s own notes, expect baking spice, zesty ginger, vanilla, honey and malted graham cracker on the nose, then warm honey, buttery caramel, tobacco and bright cherry on the palate, finishing on toasted oak and herbal mint. The Daily Whisky has not yet tasted it independently.
Where can I buy Old Forester Birthday Bourbon 2026? It is sold in limited quantities at select US retailers nationwide for $199.99. Outside the United States it is not officially distributed and typically appears through specialist importers or the secondary market, usually above retail.
Is Old Forester a bourbon or a whisky? It is a Kentucky straight bourbon. Old Forester simply spells it “whisky” without the e, a stylistic choice shared by only a few American producers. It meets every legal requirement for bourbon regardless of the spelling on the label.
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