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Elijah Craig 18 Year Old

Another Nice Old Bourbon

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@OnibubbaReview by @Onibubba

9th Sep 2013

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Elijah Craig 18 Year Old
  • Nose
    ~
  • Taste
    ~
  • Finish
    ~
  • Balance
    ~
  • Overall
    93

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Distribution of ratings for this: brand user

Friday night I had the opportunity to sample a bottle of Elijah Craig 18. Have not seen one of these before. Barreled 11-25-90. Barrel 3491. Bottle was at about a quarter full. Pour was priced at 9.50, which I felt was a steal.

Nose was heavy and masterful. An awful lot going on: Salted nuts, cooked butter, french toast, burning sugars, carmel. Yellow cake, even cornbread.

Taste was almost sherry like. Raisins. Vanilla, yes, but very little oak or wood. Not much spice at all. There is an almost Speyside level of sweetness going on here. Something meaty too - brisket and sweet and sour sauce. Honeysuckle...Can I say rotting, rancid honeysuckle? That sounds bad, but I want to stress "overly ripe." Fabulous.

Mouthfeel was wonderful. Not drying in the least. No wood tannins. No bitterness. Very, very rich.

Finish is long. Final notes were "sweet honeycomb."

This was a great experience. The bartender did not know how long the bottle had been open, but I suspect a while. That may have had something to do with the smoothness of this particular bottle? All I know is if I should see a bottle in the wild, it will be mine. Highly recommended.

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3 comments

@Victor
Victor commented

Very nice review. This is the distillate from the old Heaven Hill distillery in Bardstown, which burned down November 7, 1996. A little over a year ago Heaven Hill stopped bottling Elijah Craig 18 yo and diverted what remained of the distillate for bottling as Elijah Craig 20 and 21 yo special releases. The old Elijah Craig Bardstown juice has a status now similar to Stitzel-Weller juice: scarce and in demand. The Elijah Craig 12 YO has now for quite a few years been completely different juice. Finding a bottle of EC18 now is a matter of dusty-bottle hunting. And hopefully it will not have been marked up for current scarcity and demand.

11 years ago 0

@GotOak91
GotOak91 commented

Wow with what I've read here (comment and all) I would love to buy a bottle of this or especially a pour at $9.50. Ill have to look pretty hard if its dusty bottle hunting.

11 years ago 0

@Victor
Victor commented

@GotOak91, I did see one listing today on the non-pay-subscription version of wine-searcher.com for EC18. The pay-subscription version might have a few more. For more chat about EC18, take a look at my review of it and the comment trail.

11 years ago 0