New Barrel Proof Elijah Craig 12-Year-Old

Heaven Hill announced yesterday a special bottling of Elijah Craig 12-Year-Old Barrel Proof Small Batch Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey. This limited edition bourbon will be allocated to all markets that currently offer Elijah Craig.

According to the company, this release takes advantage of both the surging popularity of high end bourbon and American whiskey, and the trend toward high proof or barrel strength bottlings. It also leverages the critical acclaim for Elijah Craig Bourbon and the high regard with which critics and aficionados hold the brand.

The new Elijah Craig Barrel Proof Small Batch release will begin shipping next week. Quantities are limited. The suggested retail price is $39.99. Proof of the initial release will be 134.2° ( 67.1% alcohol/volume). The 12-year-old age statement has moved to the back label to make room for 'Barrel Proof' on the front.

In addition, the release will forgo traditional chill-filtering, meaning all the natural esters and taste components from the barrel are preserved, giving the bourbon a particularly rich flavor and mouthfeel.

The new release will be offered in the traditional, distinctive Elijah Craig flask-style 750ml bottle, with the familiar oversize cork stopper and Elijah Craig signature blown into the front of the glass.  It will carry a dark brown version of the cartouche-style Elijah Craig label, with 'Barrel Proof' highlighted in red and hand written proof/alcohol by volume information, which will vary from one dump to the next.

“With the current unprecedented popularity of American whiskeys in general, and high end bourbon releases in particular, we feel that this release of Elijah Craig Barrel Proof is poised for great critical acclaim and sales success,” noted Heaven Hill Senior Brand Manager Susan Wahl. “It hits all the right sweet spots for today’s ultra-premium Bourbon consumer—barrel proof, 12 years of aging in open rick warehouses, non-chill filtered, and very small dumps of barrels. This barrel proof bottling, and the recent 20 year old Single Barrel bottling, have taken the Elijah Craig range to unprecedented levels of demand and stature.”

Reports Of The Death Of Elijah Craig 18-Year-Old May Have Been Exaggerated.

A. H. Hirsch Reserve Straight Bourbon Whiskey, the subject of my new ebook, was released at ages ranging from 15- to 20-years-old. The Van Winkle range is 10- to 23-years-old. Several of the Buffalo Trace Antiques are in the 15- to 18-year-old range. Many of the limited edition offerings from various producers have been north of 12-years-old. Through all of that, for the last decade or so, Heaven Hill's Elijah Craig 18-year-old has been the most readily-available very old bourbon on the market.

So it was sad for many when they learned of its demise. Now it seems the mourning may have been premature.

The official word from Heaven Hill is that they have "temporarily suspended bottling of the 18-year-old Elijah Craig Single Barrel." Special, limited (and expensive) bottlings of even older bourbon will fill the gap.

For instance, just 1,300 750ml bottles of a new 20-year-old (label pictured above) are being released, at a suggested retail of $130 per. Last year, an even more limited release derived from one barrel of the same juice was named Whiskey Advocate's "American Whiskey of the Year." Editor and Publisher John Hansell called it, "seamless, richly textured, and impeccably balanced." This new release represents the rest of that batch, about 80 barrels. The small yield is because 20 years of evaporation leaves most barrels less than half full.

They should be shipping now, so check with your whiskey monger right away if you're interested.

In lieu of the regular 18-year-old, Heaven Hill will offer various "extra-aged single barrel limited editions."

“With literally thousands of aging barrels over 10-years-old, we have a huge and one-of-a-kind resource to tap into,” noted Heaven Hill’s 7th generation Master Distiller Craig Beam. “We’ve carefully identified several hundred that are at middle to high storage in our best rickhouses, and these will be the source for these very special future Elijah Craig Single Barrel editions. These are some of the best older barrels of traditional rye-based Bourbon we have in our inventory.”

No one is predicting how long "temporarily" will in this case be. As with the recently suspended Wild Turkey 101 Rye, it seems likely that if and when the standard expression returns, it will bear a significantly higher price.