Elijah Craig 12 Year Old Single Barrel Bourbon Review

By Father John Rayls

Rating: A-

One of the great things about enjoying whiskey is that it’s a very personal thing, and I really enjoy all things Elijah Craig Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey. Yet I strayed from this camp after Heaven Hill abandoned the 12 Year Old Bourbon for a no age statement (NAS) version of their economical small batch whiskey.

That was up until about two weeks ago, when a friend of mine started telling me about a bourbon he picked up in San Antonio. It was Elijah Craig 12 Year Old. I explained they were no longer offering it, but he had a bottle on hand. I was confused, but soon discovered it was a single barrel version of the beloved old EC12, done as a private barrel bottling for an area store.

This 12 year old version is not the norm for private barrel bottlings of Elijah Craig. Usually the customer describes what they are looking for, Heaven Hill selects several barrels matching that profile, and the customer then chooses in an age-blind selection. According to Heaven Hill, that process usually yields a 9 or 10 year old whiskey, not the “classic” 12 year old.

The Bourbon
The look of this particular Elijah Craig Single Barrel 12 Year Old (2017 bottling) is a beautiful reddish brown with some orange tint with some copper highlights. The legs are medium in length, but prolific surrounding the glass. They drain slowly and steadily.

The nose is filled with what I believe to be exactly what a good bourbon experience should be offering: notes of caramel, vanilla, brown sugar, oak and sweet corn. There isn’t any burn and only the faintest notion of any tingling.

This bourbon offers a very light creamy mouthfeel and it brings a whole mouth experience. The initial experience begins in the front and middle of the mouth, with notes of caramel and vanilla, oak and leather, and, of course, sweet corn. All of this is on top of a growing spicy feel that brings a warming cinnamon experience.

The finish is long and satisfying and warming, but never offering any burn. The cinnamon, brown sugar and sweet corn continues to grow until eventually fading without any aftertaste. It’s a very clean experience.

The Price
Elijah Craig Single Barrel 12 Year Old is a very economical choice $32.95, approximately what the old Elijah Craig 12 cost.