Elijah Craig Barrel Proof Bourbon Batch A122

Elijah Craig Barrel Proof: B520 vs A122 Elijah Craig Barrel Proof (ECBP) is one of my favorite bourbons. Heaven Hill, the distillery for Elijah Craig, releases ECBP three times per year (January, May, September), with a four-character code: January is “A1” (A for first release; 1 for the month of January); May is “B2” (B for the second release; 5 for the month of May); and September is “C3” (C for the third release; 9 for the month of September). The second two characters correspond to the last two digits of a particular year. Thus “B520” is the second release, in May, in the year 2020. All ECBP have a 12-year age statement, and proof typically ranges from around 120 to nearly 140. Caveat bibitor. I pulled out B520 and A122 at random because I have them both open (I have most if not all releases going back four years or so). B520: Clear orange mahogany color. Powerful nose: noticeable ethanol (to be expected; this is barrel proof bourbon) almost struggles to be noticed in the explosion of olfactory elements: malted milk balls, freshly mown hay, maple syrup, creosote railroad ties, split oak, sweet pipe tobacco, and vanilla. (NB: nosed after the A122, there is a quite prevalent toasted marshmallow note). Penetrating mouthfeel is spearheaded with heat, with notes of sweet café Cubano, leather, and cigar tobacco, and cinnamon. Faint woody tannins and some vanilla on the medium-length finish. A122: Clear orange mahogany color; indistinguishable from the B520. Different nose: ethanol not as pronounced (120.8 vs B520’s 127.2); more grassier rather than hay; some coconut; chocolate-covered cherries; sweet pipe tobacco and toasted marshmallow like the B520; and pomander and red hots. Palate is more woody and leathery, with noticeable (pleasantly expected) heat, before finishing with lingering notes of coconut and vanilla. Different release years, different months, different proofs: the consistent (albeit slightly different) quality and hedonistic pleasure that both of these bottles affords illustrates why each release of ECBP goes into my inventory whether tasted already or not. Irrespective of release, bourbon afficionados can bank on a good pour. And at $70-80 retail, ECBP represents incredible value in the ever-crazier bourbon world. N.B. All spirits tasted neat in a Glencairn glass.

They can't all be winners, right? Nose - heavy aged vanilla, youthful oak, and light mix of cherry, cola, and ok others said it but I can get the doctor pepper idea. The nose is really nice, it misses the top tier ECBP's but it's nice. Softer and lighter without some of my favorite dark notes or heavy chocolates. Taste - Earthy for the ECBP, straw and hay with a lot of barn elements for an ECBP. Overall still heavy sweet notes we expect in what I'll call a lighter more fruity ECBP (classic among the A's). Good caramel elements. And the oak is doing ok with time. Still some sour elements and just overly astringent notes come through. After maybe being the worst neck pour ever on an ECBP, even just a day later it's really opened up. This is good. It's still however not a winner. Then again, it's more ECBP than the much disliked B521 (it was off profile). This just comes off as a bit younger than the best ECBP, but after at first being ready to completely TRASH this one, and I drank a BIT too much of it the first night, helped to open it up, but I guess I wasted some pretty decent bourbon. Anyway i see my ECBP scores are all over the map, it's a hard one to score fairly. I'm doing 2.75. This is a good CS bourbon, but it lacks what you expect for 12 year old ECBP. Still in line with some other less impressive ones. I need to adjust some historical scores I think.

Nose is initially full of ethanol. Fully aware that this is a 125 proof product but lots of other ECBP of the same proof or more didn’t have anywhere near this much. After the ethanol fades we find bakers chocolate, toffee, cola, nutmeg, pepper, peanut, flan, sawdust, and sweet smelling oak. Palate is of course very bold and has dark fruits (black cherry, plum), raisin, fig, vanilla custard, date, allspice, leather, and caramel. Rich. The bourbon equivalent of a Christmas fruit cake. Finish is more or less eternal with cocoa nibs, tea leaf, ice cream sundae, cinnamon, pink peppercorn, apple crisps, and well integrated oak. Mouthfeel is full and vicious to the point of being “sticky”; a real plus. Shortcomings in the nose made up for in the palate and finish. This is much fruitier than any ECBP I’ve had and it really worked for me. This remains one of the best values in bourbon. At retail of $80, any ECBP release is always an auto buy, full stop. I know these may not be what they used to be, but still damn good.

ECBP A122 Neat // Glencairn // Tasted Blind Nose: Sticky caramel, tart green apple and barrel spice. I also pick up a dry herbal note - rosemary and/or thyme. Palate: Pops into the palate with tart, crisp green apple and barrel spice (nutmeg, cloves). Mid-palate transitions to barely cooked yeast roll brushed with melted butter and caramel candy before moving to black pepper/red pepper flakes. Finish: Starts with a rather astringent finish, like apple skin. Also notes of dry, dusty oak, cayenne and cinnamon powder. The finish is long and pleasant - tingly and warm on the tongue, back of the throat and into the chest long after the whiskey is gone. I faintly taste dried apple chips - the kind that still have a bit of chew to them. After some more time in the glass, the initial bitterness to the finish has faded away completely. This is what ECBP should be. Glad I was able to get a bottle of this release. If you find it at MSRP, it’s a must buy. 88/100

⌚: Let sit for about 5 minutes. 👀: Deep dark mahogany wood with some copper and possibly ocher, reddish Mars tints here and there; 👃: Intense oaky wood hits, freshly picked cherries and enough ethanol to tickle your nose hairs, picking up some candy notes (possibly mint? Or maybe Ghirardelli 72% Dark), a little bubble gum at the end; 👅: Very mellow and subdued corn hints like fresh popcorn, hardly any burn at all, freshly baked sourdough bread somewhere in there, candy corn at the end with Andes Mints (definitely got that chocolate/mint interplay there); 🏁: This is a beautiful finish, taste does not linger although I do detect something like you just bit into a cherry with those tannins, this is beautiful 😍 No burn at all. You can go at this one for days and not get that ethanol burn you get with other whiskeys at a similar ABV. That candy and Andes reference is real! Nothin' but love!

This pour had the benefit of coming off of a 1792 full proof pour. Similar proofs, but this one drinks so much cooler than that 1792. Classic Elijah Craig barrel proof notes. Nothing jumps out at you either positive or negative. I definitely enjoy the nose More than the pallet and the finish. It’s quite spicy on the backend, especially in the throat, which isn’t the most enjoyable, but a nice warming hug and lingering spice balances it back out not a bad offering, but not my favorite from Elijah Craig barrel proof. Over the course of time, I found them both on the Elijah, Craig barrel, proof, and the larceny, that the “A” Releases each year are typically the weakest. Not sure if that trend continues but at least it’s been like that for the last few years so if you’re looking to skip certain offerings, the “A” offerings tend to Be the weakest