The Keeper of the Quaich's Pick.

This cask was chosen during the annual 2026 ALCTD Kentucky trip, which held quite a few surprises for the crew. One of the biggest was having Master Distiller Emeritus Chris Morris personally lead our single barrel selection. He rarely leads picks these days, but lucky for us, the person usually in charge of the single barrel program had just departed the role, and Chris stepped in as our fill-in.

For those wondering why this bottle is named The Emeritus and why the headline reads “The Keeper of the Quaich’s Select,” we need to turn the clock back to 2008. Ignoring the Great Recession, there was at least one silver lining that year that had nothing to do with financial decline: Chris Morris, Master Distiller at Brown-Forman (Old Forester’s parent company), was forever memorialized in the whisky industry as the first American distiller to ever be inducted into the Keepers of the Quaich. It’s a bit much to detail the whole organization here, so we’ll leave it to you to brush up on the literature at your leisure.

With that out of the way, let’s get to the pick. Since the ALCTD crew had visited Old Forester before, we skipped the usual marketing pleasantries and tour fluff and beelined straight to the single casks. Oddly enough, while five barrels were rolled out, we were told we had to blindly choose just three to tap and sample. No tasting beforehand—just point at three barrels, and those become the lineup.

Tasked with picking three barrels purely on visuals or sheer randomness, Long channeled the spirit of his inner Asian mother and took the lead on selecting the first cask. He approached each barrel and started knocking on them (think thumping melons at the grocery store to check for ripeness). When one of the barrels sang back with a deep, hollow tone, our first contender was locked in. The remaining two were chosen by the rest of the crew based purely on the "ugliness factor." As we all know: the dirtier the barrel, the better the juice.

Surprised that the team didn't want any barrel stats up front, Chris passed the time by sharing old stories and fun Old Forester factoids. (Fun fact: Did you know both of Chris’s parents worked at Brown-Forman?) Stories and jokes aside, Ylli and Long eventually locked in their favorites.

Before the final votes were revealed, Long sincerely praised Chris and his single barrel team for their remarkable quality control. He noted that while he has occasionally run into mediocre or sub-par single barrels from heavy hitters like Russell’s Reserve, Four Roses, and Knob Creek, he has yet to taste an Old Forester Single Barrel Barrel Strength that was anything short of extraordinary.

Finally, the question was posed to Chris—since he makes all the dang whiskey—which glass he would reach for again. He cast his vote first. Ylli and Long looked at each other and, sure enough, they were all on the exact same page for the exact same reasons. With five out of seven total votes, The Emeritus was born.