A little background

Elijah Craig Barrel Proof is an excellent bottling put out by Heaven Hill Distillery 3 times a year. Each batch is marked by a letter and numbers, this one being A117. This means it is the “A” batch of the year, released on the first month, and year 2017. It has a 12 year age statement, and is not chill filtered. This bottle sits at 127 proof and has a suggested retail price of MSRP of around $60.

(Tasted neat from a Halo Glass)

Color

Dark Amber

Nose

The nose automatically gives off those tell-tale ECBP notes of leather, ethanol, chocolate, and tobacco. This batch has a certain creaminess on the nose that I have not noticed on other batches. It also gives off a delicious note of drunken oranges.

Palate

The palate is thick, and is loaded with wonderful notes of chocolate, tobacco, leather, oak spice, orange rind, and barrel char. The flavors are robust and deep, and coat every aspect of the palate.

Finish

The finish is long and leaves nothing to be wanted. The front and mid palate are especially affected, and they carry all of the flavors of the palate through for a few minutes. This does not surprise me at all, ECBP never disappoints on any aspect.

In closing

What can I say? Elijah Craig Barrel Proof is wonderful. This is my go-to whiskey and Batch A117 is nothing short of fantastic. If they ever change anything about it as far as age statement or NCF, I will be upset. Heaven Hill, if you are reading this, please never change!