Barrel Proof
Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
64% ABV
$49
From the back label:
"Made in the same tradition as other award-winning Elijah Craig bottlings, this is a Barrel Proof, Small Batch Bourbon. Bottled straight from the barrel and without chill filtering, the nose, taste and finish from twelve years of aging are preserved in their purest form. At Barrel Proof, water can be added and proof reduced to your liking. Enjoy this limited bottling of Elijah Craig."
Color: Medium brown, with a red tinge. Safe to say it's seen some barrel time!Smell: I was kind of bracing my nose/eyes for the rush of alcohol fumes, but it's really approachable. Definitely some sweetness - brown sugar, graham cracker kind of thing. Little bit of a cinnamon/spice backbone and some red fruit as well, but both of these are pretty faint. Kind of shockingly mild-mannered on the nose considering the proof and the 12 years in oak.
Taste: I'll get to specific notes in a second, but there is something weird and kind of backwards in how this drinks. Most bourbons - even the high-proof ones - tend to hit me with initial notes upfront (front of mouth/initial flavor rush) and then a clear transition/aftertaste as I swallow. Normally it's sweetness upfront, then a spicy transition where oak/drying spice comes into play. Of course there is variation, but it's definitely a pattern I've noticed. With this ECBP, the bottom side portions of the front half of my tongue immediately go off registering "spicy/dry" (skipping the sweet), the transition brings in creamy latex element that floods my cheeks, and then it's smooth oak and cinnamon in the long-lasting finish - but it lingers more in the mouth than in the throat. It's a "mouth" whiskey instead of a "chest/throat" whiskey, if that makes any sense.
Overall: I like this a lot, but it's hard to put my finger on why; it's definitely a weird one. It's the hardest I've struggled yet to put words to tastes. The things that stand out as most impressive are the finish and the nose, as well as how easy it is to drink neat. The whole mouthfeel really threw me for a loop in terms of skipping the sweetness and inverting the typical tasting progression on me. That said, I can't really complain - everything was super-pleasant! Perhaps the most disjointed (but not necessarily bad) thing about this was the promise of sweetness on the nose that didn't show up in my mouth. However, I write this with still-lingering spicy corniness stinging my cheeks pleasantly, and I finished sipping 5 minutes ago. So overall, seek this bottle out - it's a steal, and really unique. Sorry my palate isn't way more sophisticated - I can't tell what the hell is going on with this, but I like it a lot!
