Elijah Craig Single Barrel Barrel Proof Bourbon (Private Label)

Durham County ABC, "Master Distillers Pick" Barrel No. 6362243 Warehouse T; Floor 5 Age - 8 years 66.05% abv; 132.1 proof Open 3.5 months Nose - Frosted gingerbread, rich oak, molasses, caramel, cinnamon, tobacco, new leather, clove, and medium ethanol. This is outstanding. Palate - Maple toffee syrup, bread pudding with almonds and walnuts, cinnamon stick, allspice, light chocolate cherry, and light black pepper. Finish is long with rich but slightly dry oak, dry cinnamon, caramel, light pepper, and medium ethanol. Who knew the youngest (but highest proof) of the 3 picks I bought this summer would be the clear winner? Not me, especially because Durham has notoriously gotten mediocre barrel picks because they get randomly assigned a barrel instead of tasting beforehand. After my experience with these 3 picks, clearly Elijah Craig has a bunch of great barrels ready to go at 8-10 years but they can't use those for batches until they reach 12 years. This easily competes with the best batches of the last few years (C919, B520, and C920). For only $10 more I will continue to buy barrel picks when I find them.

this was a heater!

Next up in my Elijah Craig series is a single barrel pick by Petite Cellars that was aged for 8 years before being bottled at 66.6%. The nose starts with caramelized bananas, sour cherries and light leather then cocoa nibs, toasted hazelnuts and pipe tobacco followed by Granny Smith apple peel, lemon zest and mandarin orange that transitions to ginger, cloves, spearmint and light ashy oak with high ethanol burn. The taste is a medium mouthfeel starting with a moderate bitter and sour spice that slowly fades to banana runts, cherry cough drops and light leather then dark chocolate covered espresso beans, toasted hazelnuts and freshly lit pipe tobacco followed by Granny Smith apple peel, lemon pith and mandarin orange that transitions to ginger, cloves, spearmint and mildly bitter black tea with high ethanol burn. The finish is medium length with spicy dark chocolate mocha, caramelized bananas, burnt caraway seeds, sour apple and mildly bitter black tea. Overall, this is an enjoyable dram but the fruits are on the sour side and the balance for me is off with a higher spice than I'd prefer that overpowers much of the flavors on the palate before finishing with a modest spice, sour fruits and mild earthy bitterness. At just 8 years old, this doesn't have those old oak elements that can be found in a good ECBP and isn't nearly as well composed as the ECBP releases. It was still a fun one to experience and see how that distillate has aged after 8 years and I'm sure other single barrel picks could turn out differently, but this likely could have used some more time in the cask to develop more. Thanks @ctbeck11 for the generous sample and all the other samples of the ECBPs to dive into.