Review #458 - Elijah Craig Barrel Select

Some will call this bottle the 'Grenade' due to its size and shape, but Heaven Hill created this bottle to look more like a small barrel of bourbon. This is the Elijah Craig Barrel Select bourbon, a relatively exclusive bottling that's generally only available at the distillery or their other retail outlets in Kentucky; we were able to pick up a bottle during a visit to Heaven Hill in 2024.

There isn't actually any age statement on the bottle, but on Heaven Hill's website, the brand discloses that these 'Barrel Select' releases have been aged for at least 8 years. It's bottled at a hefty 125 proof, or 62.5% ABV, which puts it in the typical range for the Elijah Craig Barrel Proof releases... the lower end of that range, perhaps. And, while this carries a somewhat reasonable price tag of $30, you only get 200mL of bourbon instead of the usual 750mL volume.

Elijah Craig Barrel Select

USA - Bourbon

Price: USD 113 (2024; $30 for 200mL)

Age Statement: 8 Years

Strength: 62.5% ABV

Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 4 times over 3 months; bottles at 80%, 90% (blind tasting), 60% (blind tasting), and 40% fill levels at times of review. Tasted in a Glencairn glass each time, rested 10-15 minutes

Nose: Oaky to start - rich, nicely rounded, with strong sweet notes. We get caramel, cherries, strawberry, even raspberry; barbecued wood and some mild nutty notes grow stronger later. A mild leather scent adds even more oakiness.

Palate: A medium-thick mouthfeel; quite warm, with plenty of tannins and nutty flavors. Peanut shells are sweetened by caramel, orange fruit, and a very mild dark cherry flavor; the stronger oak also adds some peppery spice. The texture is great, quite oily, and those leather flavors creep back in, but they're subtle.

Finish: Warm and toasty, full of orange, leather, and baking spice. Dry vanilla, sugary syrup, dry nuts, and creamy grain... tannins and the strength add a lot of heat. It's still dense and full of flavor, if a bit simple; the length of the finish is medium-long.

Final Note: This is a nice high-proof version of Elijah Craig. It's a bit more rounded or 'smooth' than some of the Elijah Craig Barrel Proof batches, but it's also a bit more simple, less nuanced and deep. There is a leathery oak presence, but this also doesn't show quite the same 'old' bourbon characteristics as those Barrel Proof batches, which are generally 10 to 13 years old.

As for value - when you extrapolate the $30 price up to a full size bottle, it's actually quite a bit more expensive than the normal batches of Elijah Craig Barrel Proof; it's several years younger, too. This is a fun bottle as a novelty or talking point, but if you're looking actual bourbon flavor and value, you're better served with the more widely available Elijah Craig Barrel Proof releases.

Our Average Rating: 7.4 / 10

In the current whisky landscape of increasing prices and variable quality, we've added a value rating to our reviews that relates to the score and the available pricing of each whisky. This roughly equates to a 0-10 scale; no reviews so far have exceeded a score of 10, although it is technically possible for the formula to produce a value rating higher than 10 with a high enough score and low enough price.

Value Rating: 6.10

About Us: We're a husband and wife review team living in the Midwest United States. Generally, our reviews and tasting notes will be a compilation of both of our experiences with a whisky over several tasting sessions.