Spice and fresh herbs on the nose, yielding to lemon meringue pie, peach tart, whipped cream, and baking spice. Bakery notes of cherry pie and red berries get things going on the palate, followed by sweet notes of vanilla wafer and frosted yellow cupcake atop herbs and spice, all accentuated with water. A long finish of Boston cream pie, coconut ice cream, baking spice, zesty herbs, and cigar ash.

Reviewed by: David Fleming (Winter 2020)

A generous nose, with chocolate-covered cherries, candied orange peel, menthol, cola, pine nuts, caramel, corn bread, and varnish. Piles of baking spice and dark chocolate shavings on the palate mingle with raspberry jam, orange peel, gingersnaps, cinnamon, and mint; water amplifies and brightens the fruit character. A lip-smacking finish of dark chocolate, mint, tobacco, and polished oak.

Reviewed by: Susannah Skiver Barton (Summer 2021)

Here, a perfect harmony delivers crème brûlée, butterscotch, fruit, cinnamon, and rising cornbread. Right away complexity sets in, delivering salted baked almonds, cashews, dried apricot, pistachio gelato, Nutter Butters, salted caramel popcorn, rye toast with brown sugar butter, and sugarcane. Somehow, a drop of water makes it even more complex, amplifying the butterscotch and presenting cinnamon-soaked roasted pecans and almonds. Pure bliss; a must-sip.

Reviewed by: Fred Minnick (Summer 2017)

Elijah Craig Barrel Proof Batch B517 was our Whisky of the Year in 2017, and this latest release continues the tradition. The nose exudes spice, rich chocolate, and caramel, followed by a palate that’s loaded with spice, herbs, vanilla, and more chocolate. Water enhances the spice, and also brings out an espresso note. A spice-filled finish is rich and chocolaty. Water enhances it all, but even without, it’s superbly balanced and rich.

Reviewed by: David Fleming (Fall 2020)

As bourbon matures in new charred oak barrels over time, it approaches a perilous point when the oak dominates the flavor. To sip Elijah Craig at 12 years of age—at full barrel proof, without dilution or filtering—is to taste bourbon at its apex, so dangerously close to going over the crest of the hill, yet delivering a massive mouthful of incredibly robust flavors that drape leathery oak over a gooey caramel core, sprinkled with baking spice, while candied nuts and tobacco leaf notes appear on a drying finish dusted with cocoa. Number 1 in the 2017 Top 20 

Reviewed by: Jeffery Lindenmuth (Winter 2017)

An herbal nose featuring menthol, eucalyptus, and horehound is endowed with plenty of earthy oak, evoking sawmill, empty wine casks, and dusty floorboards. Generous oak courses through the palate, the drying tannins reining in the dense sweetness as the whiskey brandishes bold spices, including allspice, pepper, and clove. Water gives this bourbon much needed room to run, revealing greater polish and rich layers of flavor.

Reviewed by: Jeffery Lindenmuth (Summer 2020)

This year’s first of three annual releases has a higher ABV than Whisky Advocate’s 2017 Whisky of the Year, which was 62.1%. The nose offers caramel, vanilla cream pie, cocoa powder, baking spice, baked apple, orange, marzipan, leather, and oak. Very well-integrated on the palate, but the high ABV cries out for water, which brings chocolate, butterscotch, bitter orange, coconut, almond, and creamed corn. The finish is a long, delightful reprise of it all. Editors' Choice

Reviewed by: David Fleming (Summer 2019)

Keeps true to this award-winning whiskey’s oak-driven style, with aromas of lead pencil, leather, and fresh sawdust, balanced by dense fruitiness and tinged with herbal licorice and eucalyptus. Brawny and tannic on the palate, it’s reminiscent of sucking on a cherry Popsicle stick, balancing sweet caramel, brown sugar, and molasses with persistent oak, cedar shingle, clove, and paprika. A rustic, powerful, and robust bourbon.

Reviewed by: Jeffery Lindenmuth (Fall 2019)

When complex spice meets complex caramel, it makes for a wonderful American whiskey experience. That’s exactly what happens here with a cadre of baking spices over fruit, such as cinnamon baked apples, nutmeg sprinkled over pears, and peaches dusted with clove, followed by butterscotch, vanilla custard, and crème brûlée. The balanced and brilliant finish stays true to its complexity.

Reviewed by: Fred Minnick (Spring 2018)

The maturity is instantly apparent, with a nose of chocolate cloaked in old oak and antique leather, but also offers red berries and aged herbs at the edges. Plenty of depth on a buttery palate of chocolate, almond, gooey caramel, vanilla ice cream, and ripe banana. On the finish, chocolate, raspberry jam, and espresso bean. This one has aged gracefully, with perfectly tempered sweetness and depth. Editor's Choice

Reviewed by: David Fleming (Fall 2022)

Rich and bold, it’s loaded with caramel notes that range from macchiato to salted caramel chews. Then complexity sets in, with brown sugar, vanilla cake batter, cinnamon-dusted molasses cookies, candied pecans, brown-sugar butter, and cornbread. The key here is that each note appears with that initial caramel richness and follows this to the long, warm, and satisfying finish with a hint of spice.

Reviewed by: Fred Minnick (Fall 2017)

Quite dark in color, turning cloudy with water. Don’t let that deter you. A thick, chewy bourbon, with layers of nutty toffee, nougat, cocoa, and toasted marshmallow, peppered with cinnamon and vanilla. Oak and leather on the finish dry out the whiskey nicely. Not the most refined bourbon, but the flavors it delivers make up for it.

Reviewed by: John Hansell (Fall 2013)

A solid, basic bourbon, with pure sweetness, honey, marzipan, and wildflower notes. The sweet drive is nicely backed with drying oak on the pronounced finish, like sucking on a sweet and woody cherry Popsicle stick. A simple and enjoyable crowd pleaser, and smaller sibling to the Barrel Proof, our 2017 Whisky of the Year.

Reviewed by: Jeffery Lindenmuth (Fall 2018)