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      By BillNovember 30, 20210
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    Bourbon

    Rhetoric 23 Year Bourbon Review

    BillBy BillAugust 12, 2017Updated:August 15, 2017No Comments3 Mins Read

    Rhetoric 23

    87 Best of the Rhetorics

    Though this is the best of the Rhetoric Lineup so far, it still suffers from serving far too many years in a barrel. For those looking for oak bombs, this one backs that up with a lot of caramel sweetness and earthy notes.

    The 10th release in the Orphan Barrel series, Rhetoric 23 year follows the formula of the first 3 Rhetoric releases (20 Year through 22 Year)- it’s the same distillate aged one more year.  The company says the lineup serves as a sort of “laboratory” of tasting, allowing buyers to collect the set and taste the difference between batches that comes from an extra year of age between each release.

    This was distilled between 1990 and 1993 at the Bernheim Distillery (now owned by Heaven Hill) in Louisville, then owned by United Distillers.  It was aged at Stitzel-Weller in Louisville.

    Photo Credit: Orphan Barrel Distilling
    Rhetoric 23 Year Stats
    ◾Mash Bill:86% Corn, 8% Barley, 6% Rye
    ◾ABV: 45.3% (Proof: 90.6º)
    ◾Age: 23 Years
    ◾Producer: Orphan Barrel (Diageo)
    ◾Price: $120.00 MSRP
    ◾Availability: Rhetoric offerings are limited release in that the 23 year will only be released this year.  But they generally are available on shelves throughout the year.

    Appearance

    Relatively dark, which is to be expected due to its age, R23 is medium-brown in appearance, but lacks the complete depth of color you might expect from a 23 year old bourbon.  I believe this is chill-filtered.  As a 90.6º bourbon, this isn’t high ABV.

    Nose

    There are tons of sweet caramel notes on the nose, followed by earthy leather and coffee tones, which give way to aged oak.

    Taste

    A very nutty flavor strikes the palate  with hints of cashews and walnuts.  This is the sweetest of the rhetoric offerings by a wide margin, as caramel and burnt brown sugar round out the tongue, and heavy oak dominates the rear palate.

    Finish

    The sweetness gives way to coffee and dark chocolate, which are summarily pummeled out of existence by extreme oak and barrel flavors, the result of 23 years in the barrel.

    [amazon_link asins=’B00H143UXW,B01BI8DYPU,B016YPDI3A’ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’modernthirstc-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’a0ca01cf-7f94-11e7-9109-3f9024eba076′]

    Synopsis

    The Orphan Barrel series has not been my favorite, but Rhetoric has been a nice bridge between the woody mess that was Old Blowhard and the thin, underwhelming Barterhouse.  Rhetoric 20 year was perhaps the best of the original releases, with the 21 and 22 being one dimensional overaged bottlings.  The 23 year rounds back into form by returning a sweetness not found in the other offerings, but suffering from the same issue of spending far too many years in the barrel.  Let me put it plainly: this is way over-oaked, like most of the Orphan Barrel Series have been.  But this one, unlike the past two releases, has some redeeming qualities that might make it worth a sample if finding older bourbons is difficult or out of your price range, or oak bombs are your thing. It’s the best of the Rhetoric series so far.  However,  I lament that all these bourbons, distilled by the legendary Ed Foote, were never released when they were in their prime, and as a result, we only get the tail end of its life cycle, when its best qualities are overshadowed by the fact that it languished in a warehouse owned by a company not really playing in the bourbon market at the time when this stuff could have been gold. At 12-15 years old, this might have been outstanding.  As it is, there is still enough here to warrant a taste.

    ModernThirst.com Score: 87 out of 100 points.

    What does that score mean?

    *Diageo provided a sample of Rhetoric 23 Year to ModernThirst for review with no strings attached.  The thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are our own.

     

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    Bill
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    Bill is the Co-Founder, Editor-in Chief, and official Bourbon-o-Phile for ModernThirst.com, and Founder and Chief Blending Officer for Four Gate Whiskey Company. He is a native of Louisville, KY in the heart of Bourbon Country. He attended the University of Kentucky in the mid to late 1990s. He has also been published on Liquor.com. He has conducted various bourbon and whiskey tastings in cities across the country, and consulted for multiple national labels. He is married with two daughters, and lives in east Louisville. You can follow him on Facebook and Twitter @BillStraub and email him at Bill@ModernThirst.com.

    Related Posts

    Four Gate Whiskey Announces Release 15.1, 15.2, & 15.3: The Bluegrass Trilogy

    November 30, 2021

    Old Forester 21st Release of Annual Birthday Bourbon

    August 24, 2021

    Press Release: Old Forester’s Next Release in the 117 Series Features a Blend of Barrels Aged Solely in Warehouse K 

    August 20, 2021

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