This week I had yet another offering from Diageo’s Orphan Barrel series, this time it was Forged Oak. Frequent readers may recall my past experiences with the Orphan Barrel series have been rather underwhelming. Forged Oak is a 15 year-old Bourbon and 90 proof. My understanding is the price point is a bit lower than more recent releases in the series. Unfortunately this suffers from the same issue as the others, it just isn’t interesting enough to keep my attention. The description is cedar, maple, and vanilla and I would agree, I also found it a tad sweet and with a spicy pepper phenolic presence. One website lists it as $80 a bottle and at that price point I’d have to skip it, another has it for $10 less and at that price point it becomes a head scratch, but for me to invest it would need to be $60 or less or at least get a kick in the complexity pants. Much like the others in the series I can find more interesting Bourbons for less.
