If heritage has a taste, it most certainly is the undeniable smoky flavor of whiskey. With time-honored distilling traditions, and a deep connection to both land and country, whiskey brands are able to cultivate such a mystique that is hard to match, with a fan-base eager as ever to get their hands on rare and unique product. Tapping into the history of the business, Diageo found instant success with the small-batch release of whiskey procured from forgotten barrels across America, aptly titled, Orphan Barrel.
What makes this simple idea so powerful, is the story that Orphan Barrel unfolds with every bottle, eliciting the type of conversation that makes people truly want to talk about a product – history in every sip.
With the multitude of “limited” edition spirits on the market today that are in fact not-so-limited, the Orphan Barrel series strikes a chord with collectors, especially those on the hunt for a relic of years past – “chasers of the old” you might say. Last week Orphan Barrel released their third variant, the 20-year-aged Rhetoric Whiskey, discovered in warehouses at the Stitzel-Weller facility in Louisville, Ky., and distilled in both the New and Old Bernheim distilleries in Louisville.
The packaging tells a story all its own, featuring an intricate gold label with a hummingbird depicted to be “rising above chaos and confusion to clarity and reason”. The background, reminiscent of the oak barrels in which the whiskey aged, will grow deeper in color as Rhetoric is progressively aged and released in the years after purchase. Rhetoric is expected to begin appearing on select shelves throughout the U.S. this month under strict allocation due to limited supply, with suggested retail at $85.
Image via Orphan Barrel