Elijah Craig Barrel Proof (B517) - Review
Age: 12 years
Barrel type: Standard bourbon (charred fresh oak)
Region: Kentucky
ABV: 62.1%
Price: $70
Additional details: non-chill filtered, natural color
Some bourbons are a seduction in a bottle; others, a war for your soul.
Elijah Craig Barrel Proof, a bourbon that regularly clocks in at higher than 60% ABV and once has crossed the 70% threshold, definitely falls in the latter category. This mid-2017 rendition also is going to earn the first A+ I've awarded. Sorry for the spoiler!
Elijah Craig is one of the flagship brands of Heaven Hill, one of the largest distilleries in Kentucky. Whether you know it or not, you've likely had Heaven Hill juice in some form or other. They produce Evan Williams, Larceny, Bernheim, Henry McKenna, Pikesville, Fighting Cock, Old Fitzgerald, Rittenhouse, and the ultra-high-end Parker's Heritage collection. As an added bonus, many of their bourbons regularly crop up on lists of the best values in the whiskey world (Rittenhouse for rye, Larceny for wheated bourbons, and Elijah Craig and Evan Williams Single Barrel for standard bourbons).
In fact, Heaven Hill/Elijah Craig used to make the best value-for-money bourbon in the world, Elijah Craig 12. Aged for 12 years, bottled at a very respectable 94 proof, and packed full of flavor, it also cost less than $30 as recently as a year or two ago. Unfortunately, the company just couldn't keep up with demand and rebranded Elijah Craig 12 as Elijah Craig "Small Batch" while removing the age statement. It's still an excellent bourbon, although not quite what it once was.
Luckily for us whiskey fans, Heaven Hill did maintain the age statement for the barrel proof or cask strength release, which is what I'm reviewing today. To be more specific, we're going to have a taste of release B517. The code identifies what batch this bourbon belongs to (B, meaning the second of the year), the month of release (5, May), and the year (17 -- I don't need to explain that, right?). The previous batch was A117, which I've also bought and will review a little later. Elijah Craig has stated that it intends to release four batches a year, so expect a C_17 and a D_17 sometime in the second half of the year.
Appearance: The old bottle had a 90s sort of style and was looking increasingly outdated on the shelf. It had its charm, though, particularly since it was a hidden bargain for people who actually cared more about what was in the bottle than how it looked in their liquor cabinet. The new bottle looks more upscale, with much more clear glass due to the lack of a full-sized label. The more minimalist bottle emphasizes the "Small Batch" nature of the product, and the embossing on the bottle traces the heritage of Craig and Heaven Hill back to 1789, the year of its founding. (Random trivia: Elijah Craig, or more properly the Reverend Elijah Craig, supposedly was the first person to realize that aging spirit in charred wood barrels imparted more flavor to the finished product. If true, then we owe our thanks to the good Rev. Craig!)
In the glass, Elijah Craig is stunningly gorgeous, with a dark, caramel color and almost a reddish, amber hue. It's also thick in the glass, with languorous, long legs -- a real bombshell of a bourbon.
Nose: Neat, the nose definitely hits you with the heat, but not in an unpleasant acetone way at all (the benefit of the 12 years that this bourbon has aged). There is just so much going on here. I hate to say that this bourbon has a complex bouquet, but it kind of does. There's such a nice, aged oak or woody scent that fills the room, and is Elijah Craig's classic signature. I also get beeswax, spring meadow flowers, an oily or buttery popcorn scent, as well as the usual sweet caramel flavors that dance in harmony with the sharper edges from the oak. Over time, a toasted vanilla scent settles in. Because of the barrel proof, I couldn't recommend this to a novice drinker, but this is exactly the way bourbon is supposed to smell. Imagine eating a rich bread pudding topped by some vanilla ice cream and toasted marshmellows or meringue, in an old university library's rare books room, and that may be a fair metaphor for this experience. Because it's so intense, I'm agnostic about whether to add water (which reveals a dollop of clotted cream), but this dram is a masterpiece either way.
Palate: My wife has the perfect description of the scent and taste of this bourbon -- it's Santal 33, the popular high-end unisex scent, in a glass. Those cedar and oak notes, with little flecks of barrel char (metaphorical ones, not physical ones), come first. But there's so much sweetness and intensity that comes rushing in and dueling with it: waves of spice, cinnamon in particular, a condensed molasses, and core bourbon-esque caramel. To figure out everything that's in there, I'd have to buy a spice cabinet and then taste them one by one to flavor-spot. The palate is so lively and transforms constantly as I roll each sip around my tongue and the sides of my mouth, with a thick, buttery mouthfeel. The tannins are so thick and robust that, if I drink water after taking a sip, it's as if a film has wrapped around my front teeth. This sensation should be familiar to drinkers of high-tannin red wines and other barrel proof bourbons, like Booker's.
The only downside, which is an inevitable feature of any cask strength whiskey, is that it is impossible to hold in the mouth for a long period of time. The sheer power of the proof has an anesthetizing effect, and completely shuts down one's taste buds (remember how I described this as a war for your soul?), unlike other whiskies where a mouthwatering effect brings down the proof and allows subtler flavors to shine through. With water, there's a nice salted caramel ice cream aspect as well.
Finish: The finish lasts forever and warms the entire mouth, all the way through the throat, with a nice honeyed touch. It has no burn, only a constant, growing warmth and tingle that just never leaves the mouth. Lots of wood and spice, especially cinnamon, throughout. Remarkable, amazing. I can still taste it five minutes or more after my last sip. The complete, seamless oak integration of this bourbon is very rare in my experience, and other bourbons just can't match it.
Value for Money and Final Impressions: Bourbon prices used to be, and still are to some degree, much more affordable than scotch prices in the U.S. But the explosion in bourbon's popularity has resulted, as any first-year econ student could predict, in higher prices. The high tide has raised all boats, including Elijah Craig, which now costs $60-70. Right now, that's a more-than-fair price for a nearly flawless, barrel proof bourbon with a double-digit age statement. In comparison, Stagg Jr., Buffalo Trace's little-brother version of the venerable George T. Stagg, is aged about 8 years, and (in the one liquor store where I've seen both bottles on the shelf) costs $10 more. I couldn't name a bourbon that's better than Elijah Craig Barrel Proof for less than $70. To be honest, I can't name one above $70 either, although I haven't really explored that world, which is mostly the realm of special editions like the annual limited-release Buffalo Trace Antique Collection or Heaven Hill's own ultra-premium Parker's Heritage.
Here's the bottom line: this is a world-class bourbon. If you find it on the shelf, buy it. Even as I was drafting this review, Bourbonr posted an article calling this B517 release the best bourbon of 2017 so far. Although I haven't tried as many of this year's releases, I'll second that opinion. I'm kicking myself for not getting multiple bottles while I had the opportunity; it's no longer on the shelf at my local liquor store, so I had to order a bottle of A117 online and am left hoping it can match up.
The funny thing is, as effusive as this review may be, I'm not even my household's biggest fan. My wife might love this bourbon more than me. I don't mean she loves this bourbon more than I love it; I literally mean more than she loves me.
Rating: A+