Elijah Craig Barrel Proof Bourbon

Nose is dark caramels, sweet oak, muscovado sugar, cherry cola, roasted nuts, and chocolate opening into a spicy palate with tobacco leaf, leather, praline pecans, oak, vanilla bean, dark earth, and dark maple syrup before rounding into a long, oily, rye spice and pepper finish that evaporates just enough to leave behind a warming sensation that penetrates you to your core. The uninitiated to the world of barrel proofs would find this confrontational: mistaking for astringency what is, in fact, a just demand for the fullness of respect for its decadence at so high a proof (127.0). However, for those who have the pedigree for high octane juice, this continues to deliver better than any other barrel proof that doesn't require camping and lotteries.