Review #149: Elijah Craig Toasted Barrel

COST: $48 for 750mL bottle (I’m reviewing a sample)

AGE: 8 yrs

MASH BILL: 78% corn, 10% rye, 12% malted barley

PROOF: 94

Launched in late 2020, with the COVID driven bourbon boom, Elijah Craig Toasted Barrel was extremely hard to get your hands on for a few years. However, in the past year or so I feel like this bottle has been significantly easier to find, and my favorite local shops seem to be able to keep it on the shelf at this point. When I originally tried this back in 2021, I thought it was okay, but didn’t make me feel like the grind to find it was worth the squeeze when for $20 more you could get a 12yr age stated ECBP and it was easier to find. It’s probably been about 2 years since I’ve had a pour of ECTB, so let’s finally give it a review and see what I think today.

Reviewed neat in a Glencairn.

APPEARANCE: Dark, reddish mahogany (1.7); very oily and viscous looking.

NOSE: I pick up on rich brown sugar, toasted vanilla, and sweet chocolate first. Black pepper and spicy rye aren’t far behind. I’m not picking up any pastry notes or fruit notes that I feel I normally find in ECBP (bummer).

PALATE: Very nice oily mouthfeel, caramel reduction, vanilla frosting, black peppercorns, dark chocolate, and charred oak. I do get a slight hint of cherry with a good chew. It’s nice, but nothing too standout.

FINISH: Short, semi-sweet finish. Milk chocolate, brown sugar, and cinnamon lead the way with tannic oak making a subtle appearance before it fades away.

RATING: 5.1/10

VALUE: 6.9/10 (This is an attempt to take into account price, tasting rating, age, and proof. See my spreadsheet for more details.)

OVERALL: I’m not gonna lie, while I don’t have an EC small batch to try side by side right now, this toasted barrel is just not standing out too different to me. I would say it runs slightly sweeter at the cost of spice. It’s okay, and if you haven’t had it before, it’s still worth trying, but I’d still just rather spend a little extra and get a bottle of ECBP. This is lacking those delicious red fruit and pastry vibes that I get from ECBP. I think those are just flavors that are lost in the proofing down of this bourbon. 

Behind the Bottle

Heaven Hill is overall pretty transparent compared to most of the other big name distilleries, so there’s a good bit of info they’ve provided about their toasted barrel. Elijah Craig Toasted Barrel starts with fully matured Elijah Craig Small Batch bourbon. These 8-12 year barrels are married and then re-entered into a new custom toasted oak barrel.

The custom toasted barrels are produced by Independent Stave and made with 18 month air dried American white oak that is first toasted and then flash-charred. Heaven Hill and Independent Stave spent time experimenting with various toasting processes varying things like temperature, toasting time, etc.

Now, one thing that I wish they would share is how long the second maturation is. The only thing I can find is that in their initial press release in 2020 they said it was “months of finishing.”

I think my single favorite factoid about this expression is something only Heaven Hill can claim. It’s that Elijah Craig Toasted Barrel pays tribute to its namesake who is the pioneer of using charred oak barrels to age bourbon in. Now, that’s pretty cool to me! This is the next innovation in barrel aging, and it’s being done on the expression named after the guy that made charred barrel aging popular.

 

1 | Disgusting | ...I've not subjected myself to this level

2 | Poor | Balcones Lineage

3 | Bad | High West Double Rye, Jefferson's Ocean 28

4 | Sub-par | Weller's SR, Woodford Reserve Distiller's Select

5 | Good | Buffalo Trace, Sazerac Rye, Green River Wheated

6 | Very Good | Blanton's, Holladay Bourbons, Eagle Rare

7 | Great | Baker's 7yr SiB, BBCo Origin High Wheat, 1792 BiB

8 | Excellent | Most ECBP batches, JD SiB BiB, High West MWND Act 11

9 | Incredible | Woodford Reserve Batch Proof 121.2, BBC DS #7, Four Roses OESQ

10 | Perfect | Found North Batch 08