The Gifted Horse, Orphan Barrel, 57.5% abv.

According to Diageo, the 7th release in the Orphan Barrel series was an accidental blend of 51% 4 year old MGP bourbon, 38.5% 17 year old Bernheim bourbon, and 10.5% 4 year old MGP corn whiskey. I think the orphan barrel website describes it better though, "Some time ago at the historic Stitzel-Weller Distillery, the unthinkable happened. A batch of beautiful 17-year-old Kentucky straight bourbon was accidently mixed with barrels of much younger whiskey" and at the bottom of that webpage it says, "17 years MATURED"... this was released in 2016. Interestingly, this reminds me of those Scotch Whisky Association regulations and the resultant Compass Box transparency campaign.

Nose: honey wood, something floral, candied vegetables, bourbon like.

Palate: sharp, wood, initial palate is oily and woody, mid palate has wood spices, heat, which all transfer to the finish, back palate is oily, but dry.

Finish: medium, abv burn, dry, smoked wood without the smoke flavors.

Wow, sometimes bourbon is soooo weird. The nose and taste are so different and unlike bourbon on some parts. I swear it was like tasting cooking oil with some wood parts in there too. I think I'm not an Orphan Barrel fan... so far their stuff is pretty bad, no matter the price.

Grade: C

Whisky advocate, Fred Minnick, 86 points
Thewhiskeyjug, Josh Peters, 79/100
Thewhiskeywash, Amanda Schuster, 85/100
Breakingbourbon, Eric, 1.5/5 stars

Image courtesy of Eric Yee.

Eric Yee

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