Elijah Craig Barrel Proof A120

A little background

Elijah Craig Barrel Proof is a product from Heaven Hill Distillery. Named after the founder of bourbon, Reverend Elijah Craig, this whiskey packs a 12 year age statement and is bottled at barrel proof without chill filtration. Three batches are put out every year, and this particular one is the very first batch for 2020. Let’s take a closer look at the batch name. In A120, the “A” denotes that it is the first batch of the year, “1” is the month that it was released in (January), and “20” signifies the year it was released in. This batch clocks in at a stunning 136.6 proof, and can be found in stores for around a $55-60 MSRP.

(Tasted neat from a Halo Glass)

Color

Orange Amber

Nose

The nose is incredible. Big notes of dark brown sugar immediately fill my head. Slight hints of stewed blueberries make themselves appear in a wonderful fashion. Something that resembles orange caramel comes in upon a slightly heavier nosing. Notes of candied dates and plums are very apparent as well. This embodies the full, dark nature that ECBP normally brings to the table.

Palate

The palate starts off big, bold, and rich. Surprisingly, it does not enter the mouth as harshly as one would expect given the proof. The mouthfeel is viscous. Notes of dark brown sugar play off of the front, sides of the middle, and back palate to start things off. Notes of stewed plums, blueberries and dates fill the middle palate for a dark, sticky experience. Extremely light notes of orange peel touch the back palate only for a second, and then quickly disappear. Candied sugar (like the consistency of what is left after you eat a Cow’s Tail) appears on the mid palate. A pretty hefty note of barrel char then makes itself present all over the palate.

Finish

The finish is extremely long. The dark, sticky notes hang on to all parts of the palate and do not let go. Some of the blueberry, date, and barrel char notes are particularly noticed on the back palate. The mid and front palate both retain some caramel flavor.

In closing

Once again, Heaven Hill has created an amazing product with the addition of A120 to the Elijah Craig Barrel Proof lineup. If they ever stop making this, or change anything about it, I will be extremely disappointed. This is the standard of what whiskey should be and I would highly recommend to anyone that likes high proof whiskey to try this and tell me what they think.