Elijah Craig, a preacher who apparently enjoyed himself some whiskey back in the day, was said to be the father of bourbon, and credited with coming up with the process of charring oak barrels to age whiskey. Whether or not all that is true, who really knows (evidently even its distiller Heaven Hill isn’t totally sure about the truth), but it definitely makes for interesting bourbon mythos and history surrounding the label namesake. So I guess bourbon gets its “I am your father” moment here, and in that regard, it better live up to expectations. Let’s find out! Enjoyed neat in a Glencairn, no water added. Very nice, rich, complex, and inviting nose of sweet butterscotch, deep vanilla cream, sweet fruit, with undertones of some dry leather, and toasted oak. In a way it really reminds me of a fruity bubblegum, like Juicy Fruit, one of my childhood favorites! Palate starts beautifully creamy and oily coating the mouth in liquid velvet, a likely byproduct of non chill filtering. Leads with a pleasant initial sweetness but mid palate it's more of a balanced sweet with a little tart. Nice hit of cinnamon and nutmeg baking spices too upon entry, very lively with a gentle warm burn but never overly so. Then on the backend it becomes mostly new oak forward with bit of of tannin astringency, even some dark chocolate poking through. Finally later in the taste fruity apple or baked apple tarts show up. A beautifully well balanced, complex sip, with rich flavors. Very well done! Finish is moderately long in length with sweet honey, vanilla, toasted wood, more light fruit akin to ripe red apple. Works for me! Overall a very fresh tasting lively bourbon with a richness and depth I honestly didn’t expect. Going into this I half expected the same flavor profile of Heaven Hill’s other premium aged products, Henry McKenna BiB or EW SiB. But the HMcK, while every bit as delicious, is a very different bourbon in that it hits darker somewhat mustier notes, in the same vein for me as Eagle Rare 10 really. And I was very underwhelmed by EW SiB, as it just lacks a richness and depth that this ECSB masters. By comparison the ECSB is just fresher and creamier tasting, more complex and offers more lively spiced flavors. It’s almost like Heaven Hill has a dark side of the force in the HMcK BiB and a light side in the ECSB. Choose your path wisely! I think Heaven Hill is doing the “father of bourbon” namesake justice here and for $30, a heck of a good bourbon really; and (for a $2 price difference) I enjoy it far far more than the higher rated Evan Williams SiB from the same distillery. Personally I think their respective expert scores should be reversed, i.e 96 for ECSB, 88 for EW SiB. It’s a shame they dropped the 12 year age statement on this a few years back, but it's still very worthy at its price point I believe. You could favorably compare this to any number of $30 expressions, like Four Roses Small Batch, Evan Williams SiB, HMcK BiB, Eagle Rare, Russell’s Reserve 10, and the like and the Elijah Craig easily holds its own offering a unique nose and palate of complex and delicious flavors. I’d consider that the HMcK BiB, ER, and RR10 are on the darker side of the bourbon flavor wheel, whereas the FRSB, EW SiB, and ECSB hit lighter more fruity and fresh oak notes. Picking a favorite here would be like picking a favorite child as a parent I suppose; each has its own personality and all are worthy of a frequent rotation! Cheers!