I mentioned yesterday that I was going to taste the new offerings by the Orphan Barrel Co. Well, I did taste, saw and conquered the two samples they had for us. And they were some of the best bourbons I’ve ever tasted.

Orphan Barrel Co. finds long forgotten barrels of bourbon/whiskey in warehouses from all over the world. They then bottle them and sell them for a limited time — until all the barrel is gone, basically. Sometimes they know exactly what distillery the bourbon is from, but most of the time, it’s just a matter of speculation.

My favorite of the night was the Barterhouse, a 20-year-old bourbon that was found in the old Stitzel-Weller Warehouse in Louisville. It’s 90.2 proof and will set you back $75 if you want to buy a bottle for your collection. It tasted so smooth and did not have a bite — it was like chewing a piece of caramel followed by a toasted marshmallow. The other bourbon we tasted was the Old Blowhard, a 26-year-old bourbon which was sourced from Louisville — but that’s all they know. It was a lot stronger and tastier than the Barterhouse, but I still enjoyed the Barterhouse much better. The Old Blowhard is 90.7 proof and costs about $150.

These are definitely pricey bourbons, but they’re extremely rare, and once they’re gone, they’re gone. They should be on store shelves beginning next week. If anyone would like to chip in for the Barterhouse, we can have one hell of a party!

Lyle Lovett owes me a beer! 

There’s some new bourbon in town, and I’m going to a fancy event tonight to taste it. The company putting it out is called Orphan Barrel Whiskey Company, and they’re releasing a 26-year-old Old Blowhard Whiskey and a 20-year Barterhouse Whiskey. Apparently the bourbon/whiskey comes from long forgotten barrels in the back of warehouses all throughout the world.

I’m not sure I really understand, but my friend over at BourbonBlog writes about it. I’ll let you know what I think tomorrow!

I hate when the weather stops taking its meds.

I like that we spring forward each March, but I don’t like losing an hour of sleep. Any chance we can just take that hour out of our work week instead of at 2 a.m.?

I remember one year in college, we (meaning the collective student body of Ohio University) started a riot because the bars were forced to close an hour early. We meant business. I even had some friends get shot with those rubber bullets, and one friend got cut from a flying beer bottle. No joke — read about it here, or YouTube it. As a journalism student, I, of course, was an innocent bystander who was just watching the entire event unfold before my eyes because, well, I didn’t feel like going to bed. Go Bobcats!

The bidet at DKD is functioning once again, ladies! Happy days are here again!

One of the hardest parts of my job is keeping up with the little things while I’m attending to the big things — the big things being story planning, making sure we have photos to go with stories, writing, copy editing and getting the paper out in a timely fashion. Examples of little things are keeping my desk tidy, replying to emails, planning further down the line and checking voice messages. Right now I have 54 new messages on my office phone I  need to attend do. I prefer email over voice mail, so I figure if someone really  has an emergency or wants me to know something, they’ll email me or text me on my cell. I will get to these 54 messages some day … but in order for them to stop increasing, I’m asking anyone who wants to leave me a message to write down their thoughts on a piece of paper, roll it up and put it in a bottle. I like receiving actual mail — it’s so very old school — so the thought of opening all these bottles every day sounds delightful!

Sometimes, emails like this show up in my inbox. Should I be flattered or call security?

Dear Bar Belle:

The Reds will play an exibit. game against the Bats at 4 or so
It’s a Saturday, so I’ll be shit-faced by 2.

I made the Voice Tribune! Woot! I’m famous, or something. No pictures or autographs, please.

I met this guy who goes by Goat and Your Mom while in Austin last week. Check out his video below … it’s a pretty catchy tune.