Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/359372
94 / the tasting panel / august 2014 94 / the tasting panel / august 2014 NORTH AMERICAN WHISKEY ORPHAN BARREL RHETORIC BOURBON WHISKEY The Orphan Barrel Whiskey Company of Tullahoma, Tennessee, is in the business of saving old, nearly forgotten barrels of aging whiskey and bot- tling them for those truly deserving. The catch is the whiskey is bottled in extremely limited quantities. So when you come across one of the Orphan Barrel offerings, grab it. Among the company's bottlings is Orphan Barrel Rhetoric Bourbon Whiskey. Like the previously released Orphan Barrel Barterhouse, Rhetoric was distilled at the Bernheim Distillery in the early 1990s. After exiting the still, the young whiskey was put into charred, American white oak barrels to mature. They remained in the Stitzel-Weller warehouses in Louisville for more than 20 years. Now it's been bottled at 90-proof and is available to savor. "Given its advanced age, Rhetoric is surprisingly lacking in oak intensity," says Steve Beal, Senior Master of Whiskey, Diageo North America. "The bourbon is creamy and soothingly sweet with notes of honeyed vanilla, crème brûlée and peach cobbler. It's very easy-drinking and should be enjoyable under most moods and circumstances." DIAGEO ORPHAN BARREL BARTERHOUSE BOURBON WHISKEY The Orphan Barrel Whiskey Company of Tullahoma, Tennessee was founded as a way to market barrels of exceedingly rare whiskeys hidden away in the stillness of old rickhouses and distilleries. Because of their extremely limited quantities, once the barrels are depleted, that's it. The first of these releases is Orphan Barrel Barterhouse Bourbon Whiskey, an uncommonly delicious bourbon discovered in the old Stitzel- Weller warehouses in Louisville, Kentucky. The whiskey was distilled at the Bernheim Distillery in the early 1990s from a mash bill of 86 percent corn, 8 percent barley and 6 percent rye. It then spent the better part of 20 years in charred American white oak barrels before being bottled at 90.2 proof. Barterhouse Bourbon is indeed worthy of a museum exhibition. The bourbon is redolent with notes of chocolate, caramel, nougat and cin- namon, while its palate is imbued with the long-lasting flavors of citrus, peaches, vanilla, honey, brown sugar, cherries and toasted oak. "Barterhouse is a remarkably balanced whiskey even after two decades in the barrel," notes Steve Beal, Senior Master of Whiskey, Diageo North America. DIAGEO