Tasting Notes

Producing WhiskyCast has given me the opportunity to taste some really amazing whiskies, and I’m pleased to share my tasting notes with you here. You can search my entire database of tasting notes from this page, and I hope you’ll find it useful.

Orphan Barrel Rhetoric 23

Country: USA

Region: Kentucky

Type: Bourbon

Bottler: Diageo

ABV: 45.3%

Score: 89 Points

Orphan Barrel Rhetoric 23 Year Old Bourbon. Image courtesy Diageo.This is Diageo’s 2017 release in the Rhetoric series, and is the fourth of five planned whiskies using a batch of barrels originally filled at the Bernheim Distillery in Louisville between 1990 and 1993 when Diageo predecessor UDV owned it. Those barrels were later moved to the Stitzel-Weller warehouses nearby, where they remained until being bottled at Diageo’s George Dickel Distillery in Tennessee.

The 23-year-old Rhetoric has an oaky, dry nose with notes of molasses, dark chocolate, campfire smoke, and pipe tobacco. The taste is dark and woody with spicy notes of black pepper and cinnamon balanced by dark chocolate, fudge, and a hint of molasses in the background. The finish is long, oaky, dusty, and dry with hints of molasses and dark chocolate. (May, 2017)