Elijah Craig Barrel Proof Review

Elijah Craig Barrel Proof Review

Proof: 130.6 (65.3 %)

Batch: B524

Age: 11 Years and 2 Months

Price: $75

Nose: For me I got a lot of vanilla and cherry notes with a layered nose of caramel and some darkness which may be a bit of cocoa.    

Mouth: I will say that at first when I sipped this to test the bourbon, I didn’t get any notes because it was really hot, and I should have known that because it is 65.3%.  It was only after a few more sips and letting it breathe for around 10 minutes that I was able to taste some strong classic vanilla and caramel notes along with a hint of fruit.  It did have a darkness to it so I would say that is where I was picking up more like a chocolate note. 

Finish. After the burn of the alcohol, this bourbon definitely has an oaky vanilla finish to me which I quite enjoyed.

This bourbon is one of the three batches that Elijah Craig releases and I personally have only ever tasted batch A124 in the past with my brother and that was a while ago and haven’t been able to get my hands on a bottle since. Thus, I can’t exactly compare this bottle to the others, but I would say that this bottle is a good bourbon and has that classic bourbon flavor that I love. 

If I was to rank this bourbon or rate it, it is one that I would definitely buy again if I was to find it in a store and I had run out.  It is not one I would use for cocktails much because of that alcohol content, but I have broken down and made it into an old-fashioned which was great.  For me, since I live in an allocated state, rare bourbon releases are hard to come by so I would like to keep this bottle around for a bit too sip on when I want a strong but classic bourbon flavor. 

Since this is also a cooking blog, I feel I should say that you will not want to cook with this and if you do, most people will probably think you are insane.  Not only will you not be able to taste anything you put it in, but it will also light their mouths up.  I would suggest only using this bottle to sip or make an occasional cocktail as I mentioned above. The Old-fashioned is my go-to drink whenever I use bourbon.