Orphan Barrel’s fourth release, Lost Prophet, is the newest bourbon in their line of highly aged bourbon.  This one follows 20 YO Barterhouse, 26 YO Old Blowhard and 20 YO Rhetoric.  Lost Prophet is a 22 year old straight bourbon whiskey.  Unlike its siblings which were distilled at the Old Bernheim or New Bernheim distilleries, Lost Prophet was distilled in 1991 at the George T. Stagg Distillery (now the Buffalo Trace Distillery).  The mash bill for Lost Prophet Whiskey is 75-78% corn, 7-10% barley and 15% rye.  So, how’s it taste? (Diageo provided a sample of Lost Prophet for this review)

Wow!  For a 22 year old whiskey, I expected tons of oak.  Instead I got some slightly burnt caramel, some oak (it IS 22 years old after all), leather, honey and butterscotch.  There’s a soft entry on the palate.  That means pretty easy sipping at 90.1 proof.  There’s some caramel, followed immediately by some cinnamon and nutmeg spice.  Oak is there, but kept in check for the age.  There’s a slightly creamy character with this one too.  Last but not least, there’s some vanilla on the back end.  The finish is long, spicy and sweet, with a honey note left over.

Bottom line:  Lost Prophet has made me a believer.  This whiskey far surpasses Barterhouse, Old Blowhard & Rhetoric as leader of the pack.  There’s much more balance in this than Old Blowhard and Barterhouse – not too sweet and not too spicy.  A bottle of this should run about $120.  If you’ve got the cash, pick this one up.

9/10