Orphan Barrel Whiskey Distilling Company is a dedicated cause, acquiring some of the rarest casks from some of the finest whiskey cellars, and releasing them into the world a cascade of limited edition, barrel-aged ambrosia. In 2013 bourbon and Tennessee whiskey were labeled the fastest growing product category by volume in the U.S. alcohol business. The Orphan bottling project was more or less an ingenious response to this boom in the whiskey industry, and an effort to accommodate the vast quantities of leftover product from their monopoly of acquisitions.

When Diageo didn't have a place for the acquired product in their blends, they set the spirits aside. Time transformed this new spirit into aged delicacies. In 2013, Orphan Barrel Whiskey was created by Diageo, commercializing a large stock of ultra-aged American whiskeys that it had been maturing at the Stitzel-Weller distillery in Shively Kentucky. So far Orphan Barrel has only released American whiskey, with expressions like Barterhouse, The Gifted horse, Lost Prophet, and Forged Oak, with Old Blowhard being retired in 2014. The annual progressive release of this Kentucky elixir is in its 25th year.

The final Orphan Barrel Rhetoric release is being bottled at 91 proof, and distilled from 86 percent corn, 8 percent barley, and 6 percent rye.