Elijah Craig Kentucky Straight Rye

Hot and spicey! Tame down with ice or lots of water.

A fantastic rye. All the spice with nine of the burn. The sip seems to coat my mouth like liquid silk. Flavor rolls onto the palate and stays steady the whole way down, leaving a slightly sweet bite in its wake. All in a good way. Tasting this at a friend’s house but have definitely added to my shopping list.

Nose is bracing and medicinal with tart apple and vanilla. Immediately makes me think younger rye. Taste is middle of the road with honey, vanilla, caramel, more green apple, oak, and a medium tart fruit finish. Good comps at this price point would be Wild T 101 and Wheel Horse 101 and the renowned Rittenhouse BiB.

Nose: vanilla, caramel, banana Palette: sweet, black pepper, vanilla and cherry on the end, oily Finsh: fairly long, stays sweet and cherries

Brown sugar sweetness with building rye heat, but not too much.

Closed, plane, oak / low vanilla, leather Pal; spicy, rye, young leather, m+ body, nice & rounded

The only problem I have with Elijah Craig Straight Rye is that it's not Old Forester 100 Proof Rye, which is my favorite rye in this price bracket. I've spoken to this before. The price bracket has other competitors punching at the same weight in terms of flavor profile and affordability. Sazerac springs to mind. I like the cola taste of Sazerac. With the Forester I like the edge of banana in there with the rye spice. Here I get a lot of caramel and mint. Funny that this is like a souped-up Wild Turkey 101 even though this has a lower proof. This would make for a good day-to-day pour because, even though at the 32.99 I nabbed it for, it's $4 more than the Old Forester, the Old Forester goes out of stock from time-to-time in the local stores, so not a bad substitute. This appeared as #7 on the Whisky Advocate 2020 top 20, which, if you're applying the philosophy they do that it's new to the year, widely available, and relatively affordable, makes it an interesting choice at #7, and one I can get down with in a way I couldn't with the #1 Jack Bonded this year, which I believe was selected under the same philosophy. I'm not sure there's a whole lot to complain about here, but there isn't much that makes it stand out from the pack of the price-class it's in. If Old Forester is there, get that. If not, get this. If Sazerac is available, get that. Actually, yes, indeed get that, because it's the hardest to find of all these. And if that's not there or you're a bit strapped for cash, you're not taking too big a hit in getting Overholt Bonded or Dickel Rye or Jim Beam Rye. There's a lot of ryes of a similar quality going for this price. If you want to treat yourself, pay $10 more and get New Riff Bottled-in-Bond. Actually, that's my recommendation. If the New Riff is still going for $45 where you are, get that.