Elijah Craig Toasted Barrel Bourbon

Sweet on the nose, very mellow fruity taste then a spicy finish that stayed in the chest for a bit. Love Elijah Craig and this just takes it up a notch.

Buttery

Nose: Big, big oak, metallic vanilla, light brown sugar. Bitter/sour notes - combo of tannin and lactones lending to this funky "drying" character on the nose. Rose garden floral. Hershey's chocolate, under-ripe banana. Some green bell pepper vibes in the background. Definite well-worn leather and funky english tobacco playing off each other. Classic baking spices (think cinnamon, clove, etc), though that oak character is domineering. Walnut bread and lemon icing. This smells higher than 94 proof. Palate: Loads of dry oak. Canned vanilla frosting and brown sugar, as well. That oak character is drying and bitter, but without the charred characteristics that normally accompany it. Tannins are here, some sweetened whipped cream. Baking spices with cocoa. Not as much leather as the nose, and that tobacco shifted into a more Virginia direction. The orange julius' my dad used to make at home come flooding back to mind. Sublte sweet citrus. Plenty of texture here, though not as "hot" as on the nose. Plenty of mid with some back palate. Relatively balanced, though I am missing some of those denser, richer, deeper char characteristics from, say, an ECBP. Mouthfeel is medium. Finish: Splash of ethanol and orange peels, which as they fade reveal vanilla, oak, cream, and leather. Tannic texture and flavor are present throughout. Black pepper and softer baking spices show up, but otherwise the finish remains relatively consistent. Medium length. Other notes: Though I genuinely enjoy this, it's more as an oddity than anything else. Elijah Craig generally represents one of the best values in whiskey, and while I try to avoid the subject of price it's hard not to with a lot of what's coming out of Heaven Hill (Evan Williams is another great example). I also generally find myself finding Heaven Hill products representing excellent examples of styles, from Evan Williams BiB to Elijah Craig Barrel Proof. In this case, however... I can understand and appreciate the angle. And this gets very close to what I'd guess they were really shooting for. I wouldn't be surprised if we saw some tweaking of this in the future. I can't say that this is something on my re-buy list, nor can I really recommend it. Like I said - I enjoy this, but mostly as an oddity. If that's your bag, then give this a go - it might be your kind of funky adventure.