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Elijah Craig 12 Year Old

Great, inexpensive bourbon

0 1081

AReview by @Angelmonster

23rd Feb 2016

0

  • Nose
    22
  • Taste
    20
  • Finish
    19
  • Balance
    20
  • Overall
    81

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Distribution of ratings for this: brand user

This bourbon is copper colored and has long slow running legs.

Nose is full of sweetness; honey, molasses, maple syrup. Vanilla, nutmeg, and oak round out the aromas. For 47% abv, alcohol is subtle.

Taste is slightly harsher than nose. Corn is apparent, spice notes of tobacco, cinnamon, and charred oak are also present. Bourbon finishes with some vanilla and an alcohol burn.

Finish is very warm with a nice viscous coating of the tongue and slight burn on the roof of the mouth.

Overall balance of this whisky was good, nice combo of a sweet nose and a spicy taste. Rather quaffable for 47% but the main draw for this bourbon is the price point. Extremely hard to come by a better whisky for 30 bucks.

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10 comments

MrFathom commented

Just getting into bourbon but I enjoy Elijah Craig as well. Don't know if your aware but word is they are getting rid of the 12yr old and going to call it small batch since there is such a demand found a few websites that stayed this one is whiskyintelligence.com.

Decided to buy a couple bottles and see how it all goes down. Closer to $60 Cdn in BC,Canada.

8 years ago 0

Angelmonster commented

Didn't know that, thanks for the heads up. Hope it doesn't change the flavor profile much

8 years ago 0

@Victor
Victor commented

@Angelmonster, two comments:

1)value for money evaluations confuse many people because the money paid is highly variable, and most people outside of the US will not be able to buy Elijah Craig 12 for US prices. A score ignoring cost is more universally useful.

2) on Connosr, a score of 81 usually means, to most people, "just ok, mediocre, bordering on undesirable". An 81 score will lead many to not even reading the review, much less believing the whiskey to be "great".

8 years ago 0

@Nozinan
Nozinan commented

Agreed. My first question is always - is this worth drinking? Only if the answer is yes to I ask whether this is affordable? And then I think whether the taste is good enough and unique enough to justify the cost.

As for whether you can get a better whisky for $30, that's highly subjective, of course, but I would rate Old Granddad 114 much higher than 81 and I paid $20 US for it.

8 years ago 0

Angelmonster commented

Thanks for the input and suggestions, will look into old granddad

8 years ago 0

@Nozinan
Nozinan commented

Inspired by this review, and knowing that this whisky is currently available at LCBO for (at least here) the reasonable price of $46 Canadian, I'm currently sipping on the sample of batch A13852245 courtesy @paddockjudge, deciding whether I need to add this to my repertoire.

After sip number 1, NO.

After sip #10, I'm on the fence. I think I like it better than my Col E H Taylor. It's not quite as good as I remember my OGD114 being but at 47% a little more tame.

I don't know if I get all the elements you describe, but I think I can catch quite a few.

To me this ranks in the mid 80s. If I were doing a quick score I'd give the nose 21, taste 21, finish 21-22 and balance 22 for 85-86. Not a subtle whisky, not too complex, but bold and extremely flavourful.

8 years ago 0

@Nozinan
Nozinan commented

And after a couple of sips of OGD 114, I think I prefer it...though it's definitely sweeter so a different dram for a different mood. but it is cheaper...

8 years ago 0

@jack09
jack09 commented

I just opened a bottle of this, but will not judge it yet. It needs some time to interact with air.

My first impression was not that good. Nose and taste were closed up, and there was some bitterness, I guess from the barrel char and age. I'll post a review when it settles down a bit.

Just curious, how far down the bottle were you for this review?

8 years ago 0

@Nozinan
Nozinan commented

ACE liquor (in the US - they ship in the US) has this on sale for $20.

8 years ago 0

Angelmonster commented

Jack09 - from what I remember, at least 1/2 thru the bottle

7 years ago 0

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