I was visiting the Florida Keys when I happened to find a bottle of Elijah Craig Toasted Barrel sitting on the shelf of Summerland Wine and Liquor. It was a fairly dusty bottle — I assume most Keys vacationers are not searching out unique bourbons — but their loss is my gain, as I had a week’s worth of evenings to sit by the water and enjoy some new spirits, including this one.
History
The eponymous Elijah Craig was a Baptist preacher living in Kentucky between 1738 and 1808. Sometime around 1789, he founded a distillery and started doing things a little differently. According to some accounts, Craig was the first person to try out what has since become the standard process for the production of bourbon: putting a corn-based distillate in charred oak barrels.
Around two hundred years later, in 1986, the Heaven Hill company would start producing a line of bourbon from their distillery named in his honor.
Established in 1935, shortly after the end of prohibition, Old Heavenhill Springs Distillery was founded by a group of investors in Bardstown, Kentucky. They were gambling on the idea that alcohol production would be a booming business and invested heavily in being one of the first companies to stand up and service that market. One of those investors was well known distiller Joseph L. Beam (first cousin to Jim Beam) who would also become the first master distiller of the facility.
As the years went on, the five Shapira brothers bought out all of the other investors to become the sole owner of the business and changed the name to “Heaven Hill Distillery”, which was a typo on the paperwork from the original Heavenhill distillery. Despite being bought out, the descendants of Joseph Beam remain the master distillers of the facility to this day.
Their primary distilling facility burned down in 1996, destroying 90,000 barrels of whiskey and lighting the creek that feeds the distillery on fire for nearly two miles downstream. According to our tour guide on my recent trip there, the fire melted five fire trucks and burned for nearly four days. That said… she also said that “the truth is agreed upon fiction”, so take that last anecdote as you will.
The business survived and they purchased a new distillery in Bernheim from Diageo in 1999 where production now takes place, but all aging still takes place at the original Bardstown facility.
The 1935 bet has paid off — big time. Heaven Hill Distillery is currently the biggest family-owned distillery in the United States and the second largest holder of bourbon whiskey inventory in the world. Their flagship brands include Deep Eddy vodka and Elijah Craig, and their facility hosts the annual Kentucky Bourbon Festival.
Product
- Learn More: What Is Bourbon Whiskey?
As a Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, this is required to start with a grain bill of at least 51% corn. According to a 2021 press release announcing the release of the bourbon, we know that this specifically uses the traditional Heaven Hill mashbill of 78% corn, 12% malted barley, and 10% rye. Those grains are milled, cooked, and fermented to create a mildly alcoholic distillers beer.
After that, the grains are distilled. This ramps up the alcohol content and selectively captures the components and flavors of the spirit that the distiller wants, resulting in raw “white” whiskey. That newly made whiskey is then placed into new charred oak barrels for a period of no less than two years (as required for the designation of a Kentucky Straight Bourbon).
This bottle takes what would otherwise become Elijah Craig Small Batch Bourbon and gives it some additional time to age in a second new oak barrel that has been lightly toasted. Why toasted? Toasted barrels are heated more slowly versus the more common charred barrels, which means that more of the natural flavor of the oak is present to give the whiskey more gentle and subtle flavors (compared to whiskey matured in what’s commonly called an “alligator char”, where the inside of the barrel is so aggressively burned that it looks like the scales on the back of an alligator).
Packaging
With the exception of Elijah Craig 18-year, every bottle of Elijah Craig is relatively the same. It’s a medium-tall height rectangular bottle that is more wide than deep, adding some curves to the bottle. (Much like my vacation adds some curves to my otherwise Adonis-like physique.)
The base of the bottle remains rectangular, with a very minor outward flare. Towards the upper part of the bottle this flare becomes more bulbous, giving a curved shape. The curve continues unimpeded to the neck of the bottle, with nearly zero shoulder, and it all ends in a short neck.
The lip is wide and flat, which seems to encourage a consistent pour. The bottle is topped with a wooden and cork stopper, where the wood cap is wide and flat — and perfectly aligned with that wide and flat lip. It all makes for a nice, neat appearance and a good pour.
The font and color scheme is consistent with the rest of the Elijah Craig line. The name and type of the whiskey is printed in a yellow gold color directly on the bottle. The only variation on the label is some dark navy highlights calling out the fact that it’s the toasted barrel product.
Overall, it’s a clean and modern bottle. It stands out and will not let you forget that it’s an Elijah Craig product.
Neat
This whiskey emits a rich and sweet aroma, with some layers of complexity to it. It starts with a sweetness that reminds me of molasses, which then seems to change to a sweet fruity scent with notes of cherry and peach. Underlying everything is the note of leather that reminds me of walking into a Cavender’s boot store in Texas.
The aroma carries over faithfully to the flavor profile. The molasses aroma is mellowed to more of a brown sugar flavor, but the cherry and peach flavors are still there and just as vibrant. You can also pick out some spices, most notably cinnamon. Everything seems to be pulled together with a rich oak flavor (likely imbued from the toasted barrel aging).
On Ice
I was excited about trying this on the rocks — after all, I am sipping this in sunny Florida so a chilled bourbon sounded like a winning combination. Luckily, I was not disappointed — but I was surprised.
The flavors changed quite a bit compared to neat. The brown sugar, fruits, oak, and cinnamon all still seem to be there, but now they’re in the background and very dull.
Taking their place instead were much more spice-forward notes. The sweetness now seems to have taken the form of dark chocolate, which was a really nice addition. And the cinnamon was joined with some black pepper, creating a flavor that reminded me of a smoky chipotle pepper.
If I had not poured this myself, I might have thought I was drinking a completely new bourbon. Still as delicious but otherwise unrecognizable.
Cocktail (Old Fashioned)
You’d think that the components we saw on ice — the dark chocolate, black pepper, and general spiciness — would make for a great old fashioned. Sadly, the great flavors that you get on the rocks seem to completely disappear when you make this cocktail. Instead, now the bourbon seems to take a backseat to the bitters, simple syrup, and orange.
Yes, you can still pick out some of the notes, but this cocktail could be made with just any generic bourbon. You are getting nothing additional by using this bottle of Elijah Craig in your cocktail.
Side note: I was on vacation with limited resources, so I couldn’t experiment as much as I would have liked — but I do wonder how this would have tasted with chocolate or mole bitters instead. It would be interesting to try and accentuate those spicy chocolate notes that we saw on the rocks and try to draw them out through some complimentary flavors.
Fizz (Mule)
Like the old fashioned, this just disappoints. The bourbon disappears behind the bright and tangy ginger beer. I really wanted this to be better — mainly for the selfish reason that a Kentucky mule sounds refreshing to sip poolside on my vacation.
This could have been any bourbon and the result would have been the same. It’s not awful (and not so bland that it’s basically a vodka-based Moscow mule), but the spirit doesn’t fully stand up to the effervescent ginger beer. You get some notes that remind you that you are drinking a bourbon drink, but none of the unique flavors that make this toasted bourbon special.
Overall Rating
Overall, this is very smooth on the rocks. I really enjoy this as a sipper: the flavors balance each other out, and it offers a high level of complexity with little to no burn. If you’re looking for a bottle to offer to your non-whiskey drinking friends who want to get into it more, this might be a good option.
I usually enjoy my bourbon neat or on the rocks, so from that perspective, this toasted barrel bourbon bops. It’s great neat or on the rocks, and can be enjoyed night after night.
However, it’s not a good spirit for mixing — but this may be a feature, not a bug. By finishing in a toasted barrel, the distiller is looking to bring delicate flavors forward, and I don’t think you do that for a bourbon that you plan on using in cocktails. So ultimately, I think bourbon does a great job at the role it was made to play.
| Elijah Craig Toasted Barrel Production Location: Kentucky, United States Classification: Straight Bourbon Whiskey Aging: No Age Statement (NAS) Proof: 47% ABV Price: $71.99 / 750 ml Overall Rating:   |
Overall Rating: 4/5
It’s not going to make a great cocktail, but it’s wonderful if you are looking for a sipper to enjoy oceanside on a cool evening.
This stuff is horrid!!! It tastes more like a bad rye than bourbon. When it comes to bourbon it barely made the list not to be poured down the drain. The notes are all bitter spice and heavy cinnamon with just the slightest aftertaste of sweetness (barely vanilla and no Carmel). WR Double Oaked isn’t great either, but it puts this crap to shame. I will only use this for whiskey sours until it is used up and never buy it again. They should be ashamed for making this swill.