If you follow the blog you may have seen my comments on the previous releases in the Orphan Barrel series from Diageo. Barterhouse was the first release followed by Old Blowhard and Rhetoric. The latest and greatest release is Lost Prophet. I was chatting up the clerk at an ABC store not long ago and they indicated the store got three bottles and they went fast selling for $120 each. I knew the Orphan Barrel was slated to release something new so I went online and my first hit was a review where the author indicated it was better than Pappy 23 and Elijah Craig 23. Now I’ve never had the Pappy, yet, but I have had the Elijah Craig and in my honest opinion it wouldn’t take much to beat it since it really was a disappointment, especially considering the price of admission. A half pour of the EC23 was like $20 and I expected my socks to be blown across the room instead of receiving a glass of fusel alcohol. (Note to self – post on the Elijah Craig Bourbons – EC, EC Barrel Proof Small Batch, EC21, and EC23.)
Lost Prophet is a 22-year-old Bourbon from Stizel-Weller and it really isn’t bad at all. The problem, if you want to call it one, is this one is a bit too smooth and the character is on the low side. Sure there was leather and spice present with a nice caramel attribute and subtle wood aspects, but I wouldn’t shell out $120 for a fifth of low character. I’m glad I tried it, but I’m also glad I didn’t take a bottle home. It might be fun to pull out with friends on special occasions and tell the story of how it was made in 1991 and the entire Orphan Barrel background, but at $4.68 per ounce it would be a pricey beverage to have on hand to the hacienda. I’m not saying it wasn’t good, but it wasn’t 3X the Bourbon that Colonel EH Taylor Small Batch is and so I’m gonna pass on putting a bottle on the shelf.
