Tastes

Hmm...in contrast to my previous review, I actually loved this bourbon this time. THe more I tasted it, the more it grew on me. Perhaps it needs to be sampled in isolation. It has simple aromas of vanilla, cola, and maple syrup, but it has a taste of cherries and smoke and a the bitterness of citrus pith that quickly flashes into a serrano-spicy kick that echoes...and echoes...and echoes, almost rye-like. At first sip, it's a little aggressive, but each successive sip is more and more inviting, like easing in to a sauna. I've gotta recommend it, much more highly than I did at first tasting.

This bourbon has an innocently sweet, mouthwatering smell of honey, orange, and hazelnut. On the palate, it's a wave: a brief brust of sweetness fizzles into a lingering finish of joyful spice. Had I not tried it beside an even tastier bourbon, I would've ranked it even higher. As it is, it's excellent at its price point.

The nose isn’t super promising; it’s a bit harsh, with only a hint of honey and toast. But I actually think this whisky is more complex than it smells; it’s very spicy, but not unpalatably so, with a short, smoky, sweet-tinged finish. A bit of a firecracker with its predominant pepperiness; if that’s your style, you’ll love it!

To be honest, this doesn't smell very good...it's got an unshakeable chemical aroma with a dusting of cinnamon. Fortunately, it tastes better than it smells: like pecan-infused maple syrup with a long, sweet burn the only assurance that this is, in fact, alcohol. Unfortunately, the nutty overtones are still a bit chemically, which parses as staleness or rancidity when paired with nut flavor. I was excited to try this, but I'm glad I didn't buy a full bottle. If you're in the market for a "treat" bourbon, tried-and-true Southern Comfort is superior.

I had the opportunity to sample this gem of a bourbon at breakeven price. It smells mild, delicate, and demure, like vanilla cream soda in a musty revered library. But the flavor is incredible: it seems to linger eternal, but it’s mutable and implacable as a chameleon: now searingly spicy, now honey-sweet, now fresh, now tasting of vanilla, now of menthol, always on a sea of oak, oak, oak. It’s a Willy Wonka jawbreaker of a whiskey; you could enjoy it for hours without boredom. Was it worth trying? Absolutely. And while it’s thr archetype of all things bourbon, I don’t feel it ruined future whiskies for me.

I tourneyed this vs. my old middle-shelf favorite, Jim Beam Extra Aged, which beat out fifteen other whiskies (no, I didn’t do this all at once). The Elijah Craig won. Compared to the Jim Beam (which is still a great everyday bourbon, by the way), it’s spicier, has a much longer finish, and tastes somehow both less artificial and less funky/earthy. Spicy even to smell, with a bit of honeyed pear sweetness, it’s zingy but full enough to be more than just “sharp.” It mellows out nicely with a warm blush of vanilla apple. I love its drawn-out finish. PS: I can’t say exactly why I got different flavor notes this time; could be relative to what it’s paired against. But it was excellent on both tries.