Elijah Craig Barrel Proof Bourbon Batch A122

Open 2 weeks Nose - Caramel, Charleston honey, cinnamon, nutmeg, black cherry, charred oak, toasted vanilla, and medium ethanol. A classic bourbon nose. Palate - Light and sweet up front, light tobacco, caramel, molasses, vanilla, heavy barrel spice, and rye bread. Finish is medium-long with drier oak tannins, heavy grain, toffee, dry baking spices, and medium ethanol bite. A classic ECBP profile, and a middle-of-the-road release. Nothing stands out here, but it is much better than some of the recent duds. That seems to be the theme with A batches. They have a classic older bourbon flavor while lacking unique or syrupy notes that you'll find in the standout releases. Hopefully this indicates ECBP 2022 will be an improvement on 2021, because the A121 and B521 were subpar.

N: brown sugar, oak, deep caramel and vanilla, dry dessert-y like a tres leches T: caramel, dark brown sugar, vanilla, little cherry, lots of baking spices on this one, custard pie Very dessert.

They can't all be winners, right? Nose - heavy aged vanilla, youthful oak, and light mix of cherry, cola, and ok others said it but I can get the doctor pepper idea. The nose is really nice, it misses the top tier ECBP's but it's nice. Softer and lighter without some of my favorite dark notes or heavy chocolates. Taste - Earthy for the ECBP, straw and hay with a lot of barn elements for an ECBP. Overall still heavy sweet notes we expect in what I'll call a lighter more fruity ECBP (classic among the A's). Good caramel elements. And the oak is doing ok with time. Still some sour elements and just overly astringent notes come through. After maybe being the worst neck pour ever on an ECBP, even just a day later it's really opened up. This is good. It's still however not a winner. Then again, it's more ECBP than the much disliked B521 (it was off profile). This just comes off as a bit younger than the best ECBP, but after at first being ready to completely TRASH this one, and I drank a BIT too much of it the first night, helped to open it up, but I guess I wasted some pretty decent bourbon. Anyway i see my ECBP scores are all over the map, it's a hard one to score fairly. I'm doing 2.75. This is a good CS bourbon, but it lacks what you expect for 12 year old ECBP. Still in line with some other less impressive ones. I need to adjust some historical scores I think.

The nose has a smoky oak note, not along the line of a scotch, more burnt wood that has cooled from the campfire the night before. Tobacco and a table sugar sweetness come through as well. The first sip has a bright spice, with clove and a little lemon zest citrus cutting through the sweet notes of vanilla cream. It finishes a bit thin and peppery due to the proof, but is remarkably drinkable without any added water. Well worth the few extra bucks it took to get my hands on.

Nose: brown sugar, caramel, cherry cola Palate: cherry cola, slight spice, Dr Pepper Finish: touch of oak and chocolate, more cherry cola I think the 120 proof point is perfect. Straight soda 7 on the t8ke scale

ECBP A122 Neat // Glencairn // Tasted Blind Nose: Sticky caramel, tart green apple and barrel spice. I also pick up a dry herbal note - rosemary and/or thyme. Palate: Pops into the palate with tart, crisp green apple and barrel spice (nutmeg, cloves). Mid-palate transitions to barely cooked yeast roll brushed with melted butter and caramel candy before moving to black pepper/red pepper flakes. Finish: Starts with a rather astringent finish, like apple skin. Also notes of dry, dusty oak, cayenne and cinnamon powder. The finish is long and pleasant - tingly and warm on the tongue, back of the throat and into the chest long after the whiskey is gone. I faintly taste dried apple chips - the kind that still have a bit of chew to them. After some more time in the glass, the initial bitterness to the finish has faded away completely. This is what ECBP should be. Glad I was able to get a bottle of this release. If you find it at MSRP, it’s a must buy. 88/100