Elijah Craig Toasted Barrel

• DISTILLERY – Heaven Hill
• REGION – Bardstown, KY
• AGE – NAS (Its their standard small batch, which is usually aged at minimum for 9 years)
• STRENGTH – 47% ABV (94 Proof)
• MASHBILL – 78% Corn, 12% Malted Barley, 10% Rye
• MSRP – $50 (Usually found marked up around $80 – $130)

---

GLANCE

A nice rich mahogany color with medium to high viscosity and tall legs

NOSE

Neck Pour – I got notes of graham cracker, rich brown sugar, rich vanilla, rich caramel. I then got s’mores and then notes of sweet musty oak.

Bottle opened for 5 days – I got more of a floral/citrus bouquet. I would say orange marmalade, confection sugar, marshmallows, a very smooth oaky note but some notes I got earlier felt muted.

TASTE

Neck Pour – I got notes of dark chocolate, agave syrup, rich caramel, s’mores and graham cracker flavors coming together

Bottle opened for 5 days – I got oak with hot melted chocolate, graham cracker with honey. Flavors get very muted towards the end. The mouthfeel is silky, light and slightly creamy mouthfeel. There is some spiciness that coats the tongue.

FINISH

The finish was very muted flavors and not much to pull from here. I got some caramel, brown sugar and like sweet oaky notes with some tannins. You do get a nice hug though.

CLOSING REMARKS

I am a big Elijah Craig fan boy and love almost all their expressions, especially their barrel proofs. Haven’t tried the rye yet. For Elijah Craig toasted barrel they take their standard small batch that they mature in a new toasted oak barrel. From the company’s press release:

“The process begins with fully matured Small Batch, which is dumped and then re-entered at barrel proof into a second, custom toasted new oak barrel designed in partnership with Independent Stave Company. Made with 18-month air dried oak, the finishing barrel is first toasted and then flash-charred using a moderate toast temperature and toast time. An extensive research and development process resulted in a final barrel toast profile bringing forward dark sugar flavors within the wood to create a balance of smokiness and sweetness after months of finishing.”

I love finished bourbons, as I feel they add more to the complexity and round out the flavors evenly in most cases. For me this makes the bourbon more palatable in most cases. This finishing process is great, because the bourbon gets more caramelization and stronger absorption into the charred barrel, making the barrel imparts stronger flavor on the bourbon. For this reason this expression excited me and I couldn’t wait to try it.

Unfortunately, it hurts me to say this that it was a hit and miss for Elijah Craig. Hit because the finishing process brings back more complexity to their lineup and starts to match up with the small batch Elijah Craigs that carried the 12 year age statements. Its a miss because the way they carried out the toasted barrel finish, because to me it feels like something went wrong here. On the palate the delicious sweet flavors start to come through but they fall off fast. They don’t linger and don’t carry weight. The mouthfeel is very light and I feel I don’t get to fully enjoy those flavors. The finish I felt was lackluster and carried over some of the flavors from the palate but they were muted with not much going on. I don’t want to blame the proof at 94, since there are 90 proofer bourbons which taste great and are well balanced. Higher proof would help but isn’t the end all solution here. Overall I liked it but felt there was still a lot left on the table. At $50 go and try it but don’t pay secondary prices for this. Elijah Craig will make this a steady part of their pipeline, so it’s not going anywhere anytime soon. Cheers! 🙂